Two Sides of the Same Coin
by LilRed0318
Summary: What if Jocelyn had more than one daughter? What if Clary had a twin and what if that twin had been raised in the Shadow World with a certain group of Shadowhunters? What if the two of them meeting changed everything?
1. Chapter 1

This is going to be a long night. As I got dressed, I contemplated telling them that I didn't want to go. I was the youngest of the four of us, so I usually got my way when I wanted something. They always made sure I was well protected and taken care of. I did love my family and I loved living in the Institute, but as much as I love what we do, I couldn't help but wonder what I would've been like if I could've lived a normal, mundane life. I was putting the last finishing touches on my makeup when I heard Alec walk past my room screaming for us to hurry.

"Izzy, Addi, we need to go!" He was standing in the hallway where mine and Izzy's bedroom doors were across from each other. I rolled my eyes at Alec's uptightness and got up to open the door. When I did, Alec was standing there, his arms crossed, and his usual frown set in place.

"Is Jace ready?" I asked in an expectant tone.

He sighed, hanging his head back and staring at the ceiling. "No, not yet."

"Then why have you chosen to knock on our doors and rush us rather than him?" I tilted my head and smiled up at him. Gosh, he was tall. I was the youngest of the bunch, and I was also the shortest.

Alec turned to face me completely. "I figured that three people rushing Jace to get ready would be more productive than one." I raised my eyebrows at him.

"He's not wrong, you know." Izzy had opened her door and was holding a white wig in one hand. She was wearing a white skirt and crop top, not really hiding much of her body. "Jace spends more time on his hair than you and I combined." She smirked a bit.

Alec looked at the wig in Izzy's hands. "Really?" He said, and I could tell he was trying to refrain from rolling his eyes.

"What can I say?" Izzy smiled and held up the wig. "Demons dig blondes."

"Maybe, but that's white." Alec retorted, crossing his arms again.

I chimed in and corrected him with a smirk. "Platinum."

Izzy winked at me. "Besides, they're not exactly into Shakespeare, okay, Alec?"

"I think you're plenty distracting on your own."

"So, be yourself. Is that what you're trying to say?" Izzy asked with a grin bright enough to light up the Institute.

Alec gave up at that point. "Never mind. You're both looking good, let's go."

Izzy and I both stepped out of our rooms and shut the door. We started walking down the hall to meet Jace in the war room. "Jace, we're ready," I called to him.

"You look great. Nice choice, Izzy. Demons dig blondes." He said, matter-of-factly.

Izzy grinned and turned back to Alec, shooting him a knowing look. "Told you."

Alec looked back at Jace. "It's Platinum." I giggled and fist-bumped Izzy.

"Okay," Jace said, getting everyone's attention, "so, for some reason, our vampire friends are killing mundanes and draining their blood."

"Why do they want blood? Isn't that vampire territory?" Alec asked, looking at our faces for any ideas.

Izzy furrowed her brow. "I don't know, lazy vampires?"

"There must be something special about their blood," Jace said, rubbing his chin.

I scoffed. "What could be special about mundane blood?" Mundanes were always completely ordinary. The four of us never associated with them much. Other than our job being to protect the mundane world, we didn't have anything to with mundanes.

Izzy tilted her head and smirked. "Give me a sample and I'll tell you exactly what they want."

"We'll have more answers when we find out exactly who they're working for." Jace walked over to the weapons room and handed each of us our weapons. Jace had a classic seraph blade, Alec had his bow and arrows, Izzy had her signature snake bracelet whip, and I had the pair of twin daggers embezzled with emerald stars.

"So, you don't think they're acting on their own?" I questioned Jace. He shook his head.

"They aren't exactly creative thinkers, shapeshifters," Alec commented. He slung his arrows onto his back once he was done runing them.

Jace led us back to the main room and pulled up a picture on the big screen. "This is what our target looks like."

Izzy and I both remarked at the same time. "For now." I laughed, and she grinned at me.

"Alright," Alec said. "I'll go get approval for the mission."

"Oh, come on, Alec." Jace groaned. "By the time you send that message we could have already killed six demons."

"Besides," I looked at Alec as we got ready to leave the Institute, "It's more fun to break rules than to follow them."

We were walking down the street and weaving through the mundanes in order to make it into the Pandemonium doors. We walked by old people, middle-aged people, and children. I followed Alec and Izzy until Alec realized Jace wasn't behind us anymore.

"Jace," Alec called for him. When he didn't answer I looked behind us and saw Jace walking toward me with wide eyes, like he'd just seen a ghost.

"Woah, Jace, what's up?" I asked, concerned for my friend.

"Addi, this is gonna sound strange, but I bumped into a mundane, and she could see me," he said. I gave him a look.

"Yeah," I replied, confused. "That's pretty strange."

"No, that's not even the weirdest part." He stared at my face, studying my features. "She looked _exactly_ like you."

I was taken aback. "Huh?"

"Yeah, I know, it sounds weird. Listen, you could've been twins. Same red hair, same green eyes, same height." He was listing off what he saw now. I was still confused. A mundane that looked just like me could see Jace.

"Okay, this is freaking me out." I shook my head. "Should we tell Alec and Izzy?"

"Yeah," Jace paused, contemplating. "Let's wait until after the mission when we're back at the Institute so they aren't distracted."

I nodded my head, agreeing. "Yeah, okay, good plan."

The two of us stood there awkwardly nodding our heads until Jace reached up and rubbed the back of his neck. "Hey, Addi, did you still want to talk about the thing that happened last night?"

"The thing?" He nodded. "Right, the thing. Um, well, I don't know, Jace. We've talked ourselves through this a hundred times."

"And you still don't think it would work?" He asked, his eyes blazing.

I sighed and shook my head. "No, I never said that. I just said that I didn't want to risk it."

"Risk what?" He demanded. "Risk the chance of finally letting yourself get close enough to me have a real relationship?"

"I don't want to risk ruining what we already have!" I exclaimed. "Look, I know that it sounds cliché, but you, me, Alec and Izzy are a team. We are the best team. We're balanced, and we fit, the four of us. We grew up together and we trained side by side. What happens if we try this and you or I mess up? Nothing would ever be the same, and we wouldn't just have hurt each other, we would end up hurting Alec and Izzy, too."

Jace let out a deep breath and looked down. "So, you're telling me that last night meant nothing to you?" He asked, voiced braced for whatever response I had.

"Jace, last night was confusing for me. It didn't feel right in the sense that I don't think we fit together like that. You're my best friend. You were with me when I killed my first demon, you were the one who showed me my new life when I got to the Institute, and you're the one who taught me everything about being a Shadowhunter over and over again so that I wouldn't forget who I really am and who I'm meant to be." I finished, and for just a moment, we stood there in total silence.

Jace looked up at me with a blank expression on his face. "We should get back to the others." He walked away without another word. I watched him leave and closed my eyes, taking a deep breath before I followed my friends.

Inside Pandemonium, the four of us made our way through the crowd before we walked into the back sections and the guards let down the curtain to separate the people in here from everyone out there. Jace looked at Izzy before gesturing to the group of demons lounging on the couches. Izzy grinned and strutted toward them, stepping onto the table before shedding her long black coat. She revealed her barely-there outfit and pulled off the wig, letting her hair down and shaking it out while she danced for them. I smirked at her. Oh, how she loved being the distraction.

Jace walked up behind our target- a demon disguised as a woman in her early twenties wearing a short pink dress. "I hear you've been peddling mundane blood." He said in a menacing tone, his mouth right at her ear.

Her expression never changed. "Why? You lookin' to score?"

"I'm not." Jace turned her around to face him. "But you're gonna tell me who is."

"Well, you're outnumbered here." She retorted. I raised my eyebrows and saw Alec standing a few feet away, watching them.

Jace smiled in a way that would make any opponent fear him. "Oh, I like our odds." Now he stopped smiling, baring his teeth slightly. "Last chance."

His Seraph blade shot out of the hilt. Just then, I heard another voice. A voice that sounded very similar to my own screamed, "Watch out!" I looked over to the source and I saw someone who looked exactly like me knock the demon out of the way before he could do anything.

The demon turned back around and showed it's real, truly vile face. "Careful!" Jace tried to warn the girl and he pushed her out of the way, knocking her to the floor. The look on his face was like he'd seen a ghost came back. I couldn't move, all I could do was stare at this clone of myself get in the way of what we were supposed to be doing here.

I saw Jace kill a demon with his blade and Izzy choked another with her whip. She looked at me while the demon was struggling and then looked at the girl on the floor. She looked back up at me and saw the two demons running toward me. "Addi! Move it!"

I snapped out of it and took my daggers in my hands. Two demons were running to either side of me, so I jumped out of the way and let them run into each other. Then, I landed beside them and stabbed both in the sides before they disintegrated. I looked over to see Jace helping the girl up off the floor before he dropped his Seraph blade on one of the couches and went to fight another demon hand-to-hand. The girl picked up the hilt and the blade shot out of it again. I tilted my head and she met my eyes as her own widened. Before she had a chance to look away, a demon ran into the blade and burned to ash. She gasped in horror.

I looked away from her and saw Alec killing a demon with his blade while Jace hadn't noticed the girl using his. When Alec got a free arm and Jace got stuck he looked at his parabatai for help. "Alec!" Jace called and Alec tossed the blade to Jace, so he could kill the demon on top of him. When there was only one demon left, Jace reached for his blade in the girl's hands and at the same time, he and Alec killed the last demon.

I looked away from him to see the girl running through the curtain.

"What the hell?" Izzy exclaimed.

I shook my head, turning back around the face her. "I don't know." I looked at Jace next. "Safe to assume that that's the mundane you saw on the street?"

He nodded in silence. Alec spoke up. "Addi, that mundane looked exactly like you."

"I can see that, Alec." I stuck the daggers in my hip holsters. "The question is, what do we do about it now?"

"I say we question her," Jace said, looking at the curtain,

I shook my head. "You question her all you want, this is just too weird for me."

"No one is doing anything about this until I can report it to the Clave," Alec said with authority in his voice.

"Do you really think this is a Clave issue?" Izzy asked. "She is just a mundane."

"Just a mundane can't see us and they definitely can't use a Seraph blade."

"Do what you want," I said in a tired voice. "I'm going home."

I ran through the curtain and bumped into a man with glitter in his hair and dark makeup around his eyes. He looked at me with barely disguised recognition. I stumbled past him muttering a quick, "Sorry."

When I got the outside of the club I caught a cab. It stopped, and I climbed in. "Drive," I ordered him. We moved, and I gave him directions to the Institute. Once I got there, I shed my gear and went straight to bed.

 _I saw her, the girl who looked just like me. She was in what looked like a classic Brooklyn loft with another woman whom she resembled. There was someone else there, too._

 _The girl spoke in a frantic voice to the older woman. "What's happening?_

 _"I got a very powerful person angry." The woman said, rushing around the room. I saw her looking through boxes and compartments._

 _"What did you do?" The girl asked. She had tears streaming down her face._

 _"I stole something from him and his followers." She said quickly._

 _The girl was confused. "Followers? Why can't you just call the police?"_

 _"The policeman you need to be calling is Luke." She said, spinning the girl around to fasten the necklace around her neck. "Keep this with you and think of me when you wear it."_

 _The girl got frustrated with her answers not making any sense. "This is not the time for more birthday gifts, what the hell is happening?" The girl yelled._

 _The other woman came up to the first one and pushed a bottle of green liquid into the first woman's hand. "Only if you need it." She warned._

 _"Trust your instincts. You're more powerful than you know." The first woman said to the girl, gripping her shoulders._

 _The girl looked at the woman. "Mom, I need to know what's-" and before the girl could finish, her mother stepped back by the other woman and exclaimed, "Dot, open it!"_

 _The woman- Dot- held out her hand and as it glowed purple, she seemed to open a portal for them. The girl's mother started to drag the girl toward the portal. "Everything I've done, every mistake I made I did because I love the two of you more than words."_

 _"The two of us? Mom, what are you doing?"_

 _"Luke will explain everything to the both of you. He'll help you."_

 _"Help me?" The girl sounded desperate._

 _"He'll help you two hide from the circle. Luke and Adrienne are the only two people you can trust. Trust no one else."_

 _"Mom, I trust him but who's-" She didn't get to finish the question._

 _Her mother shouted. "Where's Luke now?"_

 _"The police station!" The girl screamed._

 _"Remember, I love you both!" She yelled at the girl as tears streamed down her face right before she was sucked into the portal._

 _"Mom! Mom!"_

I woke up in a cold sweat with one word on my lips.

"Clary!" I screamed, shooting up from my bed. It wasn't the kind of dream that disappeared when you woke up. It was burned in my memory. She'd told that girl to trust Adrienne. I know her name.

I got dressed and grabbed my gear. Then I went downstairs to see the girl from Pandemonium lying on a cot. Izzy was sitting next to her on the bed looking at her until she noticed me. "Hey, Addi. Where've you been?"

I was staring at the girl. "Sleeping." I looked at Izzy now. "Iz, you're not going to believe this, but I had a dream. I saw her."

"What do you mean?"

"She was in a room with two other women, one was her mother and I think the other was a warlock. Her mother was trying to get her to leave because someone was coming for her." I explained.

Izzy looked back at her. "I believe you. Jace carried her in two days ago and he said she told him that her mother had been kidnapped. I guess he saved her from a Ravenor demon, but she got bit." Izzy chuckled and shook her head. "To be honest, I thought she was you when he came in until I noticed the lack of runes."

"Wait, did you say two days? I've been sleeping for two days?" I asked in disbelief.

She frowned. "Alec said that we should let you be alone because of what happened at Pandemonium. Which we can all understand. It doesn't make sense. How do the two of you look so identical?" She mused, studying the girl more closely.

Suddenly the girl sat up so quickly that she head-butted Izzy.

"Um, ow," Izzy said, closing her eyes.

She looked at Izzy, and then glanced over at me, her eyes widening even more so. I crossed my arms and leaned back against the wall, watching her. Then she made a move to get away from Izzy. "I don't know who you-"

"I'm Isabelle. That's Adrienne." She said, gesturing to me. The girl looked at me again.

"Wait, you're Adrienne?" I raised my eyebrows in as if to say 'yeah, so?' I knew why she'd asked though. The woman in my dream had said there were only two people she could trust, and she gave her my name. I didn't know why but I sure as hell didn't trust her.

"You know, I've never seen Jace so curious about a mundane, or distracted. Like you saw earlier distractions are dangerous in our line of work." Izzy said, smiling at her.

"I don't know what you're talking about. Who's Jace?" She turned her eyes to me. "Who are you? Why do you look like me?"

"Why do you look like me?" I retorted. That was a stupid question and if she didn't know, why did she think that I would? Mundanes.

"I don't know." She whispered to herself.

"You really don't know much, do you?" Izzy asked, shaking her head.

The girl frowned. "All I know is that some psychos took my mother and now you people have taken me." I rolled my eyes and Izzy chuckled before replying.

"And by 'taken' I assume you mean saved your life." The girl didn't have time to say anything else before Alec and Jace walked in.

"The mundane shouldn't even be here," Alec stated.

I spoke up at that point. "I agree with Alec." I raised my hand as I said it and Alec nodded at me.

The girl got their attention. "Where is 'here' exactly?"

"She's not a mundane." Jace countered.

"How do you know that?" Alec was getting frustrated.

"The Seraph blade lit up when she touched it," Jace explained, "look, Isabelle, can you-?" Isabelle caught on to his meaning and stood up, so he could take her place next to the girl. "I'm Jace Wayland."

"I'm, uh," the girl stuttered, and I got impatient.

"Clary. Your name is Clary." I said her name for the second time since I'd woken up from that dream. Jace looked from me to Clary.

"Clary Fray. We know who you are." Jace said.

"Am I the only one who finds this unusual?" Alec asked the three of us. I rolled my eyes for what felt like the millionth time today.

Jace rolled his own eyes before looking at the Lightwood. "You find everything unusual, Alec."

I narrowed my eyes at Jace and walked over to stand in front of him and Clary. "Um, I think he has good reason to find this unusual. A mundane girl that can use a Seraph bade, survive a rune and see all of us? Not to mention the tiny little detail of her looking _just like me_." I dropped my hands to my sides. "Yeah, I'd say it's a little unusual."

Alec was already nodding at this point. "I have to report this to the Clave."

"You know what? Dial it down a notch." Jace warned, sounding fed up with his parabatai.

Izzy laughed. "My brother doesn't have a dial." She turned to him. "I love you, Alec, but you have a switch that's always on."

Alec gave her a sarcastic smile and replied. "I love you, too, but this-" he didn't get to finish before I interrupted him.

"Why don't you?" I shot at Jace in response to his earlier statement about 'dialing it down'. He'd done nothing in the past ten minutes but piss me off. "You don't even know this girl, why are you trying to so hard to protect her? A mundane?" Then it dawned on me. "Oh, I know why. You like her because she looks just like me." I said the last three words slowly to make a point. Alec looked confused at my statement, but Izzy squinted her eyes and studied Jace's face to see if what I said struck a chord with him.

Jace looked at me for a moment and then turned back to Alec. "Hey, you know what? Give me a minute." I looked at him in disbelief because there was no way he was being serious right now. When I didn't leave he asked again. "Here's a word you'll never hear me say, please?" He gestured toward the door and I looked at him in a disappointed way before I shook my head and walked out.

I heard Alec talking to Izzy outside in the hallway, so I joined them again. "No, really, what's with him?"

She looked at me and winked. "Walk with us big brother, we'll explain."

I sighed and hooked my arm through Alec's elbow the way Izzy had hers. "I think he's going to try to replace me with her." My eyes started to well up with tears and I tried to keep them from falling so as not to get black makeup all over my pale cheeks. "Is that girl really going to come in here and undo ten years' worth of friendship?" They fell anyway. I felt weak, I never cried.

Alec saw the tears running down my cheeks first. "Oh, Addi." He put his arm around me. "That girl doesn't belong here. There isn't a person alive who can undo the bond you guys have. Before everything, we're family."

"He's right, Addi. The four of us are as close as humanly possible. Jace wouldn't do anything to ruin that." Izzy tried to comfort me.

"Unless I already did," I said. Alec furrowed his brow.

"What do you mean?"

"You know how you and Izzy went down to the training room the night before we went to Pandemonium?" He nodded in response. "Well, I wasn't asleep and neither was Jace. He said he wanted to talk to me alone that night, so we sat on my bed and talked."

Alec still looked confused while Izzy was waiting patiently to let me explain. She already knew because I tell her everything, and my one request was that she let me tell Alec.

"Okay, you talked about what?" He prompted me to continue. I sighed.

"We talked about how we should try being a couple. He said that he liked me and wanted me to like him too and then..." I trailed off and then started up again. "He kissed me, and I was in shock so I kind of just let it happen and then suddenly I was kissing him back." I looked at Alec, waiting for his response.

He stepped away from me, so he could look at me straight on. "Addi, did you and Jace...?"

I nodded silently and shut my eyes, feeling more stupid tears run down my cheeks. "Addi." I opened my eyes again. "Did you want to?"

"In the sense that it was consensual, of course. I let it happen, I never said no, and I guess I was curious to see if we could work, too. Besides, I wouldn't have let it happen if I didn't want it to and Jace is in no way the kind of person that would do that." I leaned my head back. "But outside Pandemonium he asked if we should talk about it and that was when I told him that I didn't want to risk our friendship because the four of us fit so well as friends, but Jace and I just didn't fit as a couple."

Alec took a deep breath and pulled me in for a hug. "No one knows more about not fitting together than I do."

"I'm sorry, Alec. I know how you feel about Jace." I pressed my cheek against his chest.

"It's okay." He rubbed my back. "I'll probably continue to feel that way, but it doesn't make my situation any different than before."

"Guys," A Shadowhunter who lived in the Institute got our attention, "Jace and the girl brought in another mundane."

"Oh, you've got to be kidding." Alec started toward the main room and Izzy cleaned the dark streaks off my face for me before we followed him.

These mundanes were killing me.

Disclaimer- I don't own the original storyline, script or the characters. I only own my added character and ideas. The rest belong to Cassandra Clare and the writers of Shadowhunters.

Okay, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I would love if you favorited and reviewed with some of your own thoughts and ideas. Thanks for reading!

-Red


	2. Chapter 2

We got down to the main room of the institute just in time to see Jace, Clary and another boy looking at a monitor.

"What's going on? Why is there a mundane in the Institute?" Alec asked. He looked annoyed and he crossed his arms.

"A Circle member followed him to get to Clary," Jace said, jerking his head toward Simon. I looked at the boy in question. He was taller than me by a few inches and he wore large-lensed glasses paired with an expression of amazement as he looked around the inside of the Institute.

Clary took a step forward, talking to Alec. "He had a Circle rune on his neck, just like the guys who took my mother." She explained the situation.

"What exactly is a Circle member," the boy chimed in, "and why are they trying to kill us?"

"Maybe because you guys keep showing up places you aren't supposed to be." I offered sarcastically. "Like Pandemonium, the Institute..."

Izzy grabbed my wrist, giving me a look and I just sighed. I had no desire to listen to this girl speak but I stayed because I didn't particularly want to leave my friends with her.

"All we know is that the Circle led a revolt a long time ago and a lot of Shadowhunters got killed, including my father," Jace said quietly and I looked at him with sympathy. I remember the day that he showed up at the Institute. He was older than me, but there was always the kind of hurt that only a child could bear in his eyes.

"Since the revolt, it's been forbidden to hear about the Circle."

"How is that even possible?" She asked in a voice that had a little too much attitude for my liking. "It's your history."

"Says the girl who didn't even know she was a Shadowhunter." I bit back. "You know what? You don't have any kind of right to be here, newly recognized Shadowhunter or not. So, my advice? Cool it." I started to walk away and Izzy went to follow me.

"Yeah, you know, you're right." I heard Clary say as I walked away and I spun around to look at her face as I replied.

"Usually am." I crossed my arms.

"But the only person who knows the truth about who I am or what I am, not to mention why we look alike is missing. So, I don't care about your rules or what's forbidden, there's got to be someone out there who can tell me why they've taken my mother."

"There is," Jace said, his face was blank but all three of us instantly understood what they meant. "You coming?" Clary and the boy began to follow him but before they could leave Jace turned around and pointed at Simon. "No, no, no, no, not you."

"What?" Clary stopped in her tracks. "We're a package deal."

"There are runes all over the training room floor that would kill your mundane boyfriend." I chimed in. The boy looked at me with wide eyes, and then he and Clary started stuttering over their words, evidently trying to explain their lack of romantic relationship.

"We're just friends." The boy said.

"Best friends." She emphasized the word, looking at him in reassurance.

The boy suddenly got brave. "Yeah, I'm tough. I can handle some runes, so, bring on the runes." He said, trying to square up to me where I was standing. I raised my eyebrows in amusement.

"Oh, really?" I asked with a smirk on my face, inching closer to him. My eyes were burning up into his and I could feel the intimidation I was emitting so close to him.

"Um," he mumbled, "what exactly are runes?"

"They give us our demon-fighting powers." Izzy smiled as she explained, activating her angelic rune so he could see what she meant. As she did, I saw him gape at her and mumble something that sounded like, 'so hot'.

Alec was silent but it seemed he was interested in seeing whatever we came up with. Izzy sauntered over to the boy, hooking her arm through his. "Don't worry Clary, we'll take care of the best friend."

I was taken aback. "We?"

Izzy didn't miss a beat and gave me a look before repeating in affirmation. "We." She turned her gaze back to the mundane. "In fact, I was just about to make breakfast."

Jace chose then to make a comment. "On second thought, the runes might be less lethal."

I couldn't help but snicker and Izzy tilted her head toward Jace. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." Her attention was back on mundane. "Please excuse my siblings' lack of manners. This is Alec," she said as she gestured to each of us. "This is Adrienne, and I'm Isabelle." I saw Clary's eyes flash to mine when he introduced us but she decided not to say anything.

"Lew-Lewis. Simon Lewis." He stuttered while he shook her outstretched hand. "Two first names, am I still talking?" I could swear I saw sweat bead up on his hairline. Isabelle giggled at his nervousness.

Jace turned to Clary while Simon and Isabelle were having their little exchange. "See? Best friend's safe here." He assured her.

"Jace, if anything happens to him..."

Simon interrupted her. "Go on. I'll be fine." He paused and added, "I think."

She sighed and turned back to Jace. "Where is it?"

Jace led Clary away and Izzy and I led Simon to the kitchen to grab some food, but we ended up taking what she made to her room. They sat on her bed and picked at something that looked like oatmeal. I noticed Simon staring at me as I twirled my stele around in my hands.

"Can I help you?" I asked him not so politely. He jerked back to look at his food and then looked at me again, trying to force a smile and stutter an apology.

Izzy rolled her eyes at me. "Addi, calm down. He's a mundane, not a pest that you can swat away."

I gave her a sarcastic smile. "What's the difference, again?" I asked rhetorically.

"Addi-" Izzy tried to scold me for it but Simon interrupted her.

"No, it's fine." He glanced over once again, his eyes roamed over my face and body, studying me. "It's just, the resemblance is uncanny. You could be Clary sitting here with us right now and I wouldn't know the difference."

I went back to twirling my stele. "So I've been told."

Somewhere in between us talking, Izzy got a text from Jace that said the Circle members were following her because for some reason Valentine thought she had the Mortal Cup. She forwarded the text to me so I could read it. The whole thing worried me. Izzy didn't seem worried, however, and as soon as she sent me the text she went back to talking about my clone.

"You must wonder why." Izzy mused. "I mean, there has to be a reason. You don't just look similar, you're identical. Maybe one of you is a doppelganger." She giggles at the ridiculousness of it all. I gave her a mocking laugh.

"It's possible, I mean. If all of this is real, if all of these things really exist, maybe there's some supernatural explanation for this, too." Simon laughed, "I mean, it's not like it could be something normal like the two of you being long-lost twin sisters. Jocelyn would have said something."

When he said that name I sat up. It was impossible. "Jocelyn?"

Simon tilted his head. "Yeah, she's the woman that these Circle guys took, Clary's mom."

Izzy looked alarmed. "What is it?"

"That's not possible." I stood up slowly. "It can't be."

"Addi, what's wrong?"

"Hang on," I said already opening the door to the hallway. "I'll be right back."

I closed the door behind me and walked across the hall to my own room. Once inside, I shut the door behind me and pulled out my journal. The picture in my journal and the bracelet around my headboard post were all I had when I got to the Institute. I didn't look at them very often because I didn't remember much of my old life or where they came from.

I pulled the picture out of my journal. It was a Polaroid picture of a baby with green eyes and red hair. I'd always figured that the picture was of me, but when I looked on the back it said C- August 29, 1998. Then it all started to make sense.

Why I could see Clary when her mom pushed her through the portal.

Why there was a C on the back of a picture that looked just like me.

How Clary miraculously turned out to be a Shadowhunter.

Why we looked so identical.

It was all because we _were_ twins.

I could have fainted. I slid down to the floor and sat there a minute with my eyes closed. When I came back out of my room and opened Izzy's door, I spoke in a quiet voice. "I think you might have on to something, Simon."

"Huh?"

I showed him the picture of the baby. "This is one of the only things I had with me when I came to the Institute. It's Clary, right?"

He studied the picture and Izzy peeked over to see what we were looking at. "I mean, I guess it could be but it could also be you. You look the same." He said, adjusting his glasses.

"Yeah, but look at the back." He flipped the picture over. "August 29, 1998. That's Clary's birthday, isn't it?" I asked, looking for confirmation.

"Yes. She just turned 18." Simon had wide eyes now.

Izzy looked at me seriously. "So did you."

"August 29, 1998, is Clary's birthday, and mine, too. This half of the picture has the letter C on the back, and I bet if we can find the other half, it will have the letter A." I stated. The whole situation was surreal.

Izzy stood up. "We need to find the others and tell them." She said and pulled out her phone. I took the picture back from Simon and stuck in the inside pocket of my jacket.

"Really? Okay. Yeah. I'll tell her." Izzy hung up the phone and turned to me. "Jace thinks Clary's memory is wiped so they're going to try to find Clary's warlock friend Dot to see if she can undo it. She's coming up to find something to wear now."

"Okay, I'm going to wait to tell her about the picture until after this Dot person fixes her brain and we know it's true." Izzy nodded in agreement.

Simon's phone beeped and he looked down at it before excusing himself. "I need to take this, I'll be right back." He left and a few seconds after the door closed it opened again and this time it was Clary who walked through it. "Hey, Jace said you could help me? I don't really own Shadowhunter clothes."

Izzy smiled and handed her a few pieces of clothing before she led Clary behind an accordion wall so she could change. When she was finished she stepped out and looked at herself in Izzy's full body-length mirror.

"This is the least revealing thing you have?" Clary asked self-consciously.

Izzy smiled, chuckling lightly. "What? All the naughty bits are covered. A little too much in my opinion."

I rolled my eyes. "Just be happy that she was nice enough to lend you clothes. She could have just not helped you at all."

Clary turned to me fully. "Look, I don't know what I did to make you hate me so much, but-"

I furrowed my brow, interrupting her. "I don't hate you." I tilted my head. "I just don't particularly like you."

"Why? What did I do? I'm only here because I want to find my mom and Jace showed up in my apartment before that demon could kill me."

I stood up, walking toward her until I was standing right in front of her. "Maybe it's because Jace is trying to get under my skin with you and you are happily letting him do it."

She crossed her arms. "I didn't even know you and Jace had a problem."

I threw my arms up in exasperation. "How could you? You came into our lives approximately 15 minutes ago and all you've been paying attention to is Jace's flirting."

"Okay, then. If I'm so oblivious, tell me." She put her hands on her hips.

"Why the hell would I tell you about what goes on in my personal life? I barely know you." I snapped. She was getting entirely too sassy at an entirely too close range.

"No, if you know me well enough to not like me and make assumptions, you know me well enough to explain why exactly you have such a problem with me and Jace."

"I don't!" I yelled. She flinched backward and I sighed. "I don't have a problem with you being with Jace, and therein lies my problem with Jace."

She shook her head in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Izzy chose that moment to explain the situation. "Jace likes her, a lot. She didn't like him back like that, but she was open to it so when the time came and she got curious, they slept together." Izzy's eyes flickered to mine. "The next day when Jace asked how she felt about it, she told him it wouldn't work and that she didn't want to try. She and Jace haven't really talked since, but in the midst of that, you showed up."

"It's like he has you so he doesn't need me," I said, then I turned around and walked back to Izzy's bed, plopping down and letting out a deep breath.

I heard her walking toward the bed and then felt it dip when she sat down. "Okay, look. I don't know what's going on in Jace's head and I don't know the history you have. What I do know is that he won't ever be able to replace you with me even if he does like me." I sat up and listened to what she had to say. "I am a girl he met two days ago. You are a girl he met years ago. You know a part of him that I've never seen before, you have a history. Maybe I am a Shadowhunter, too, but it doesn't change the fact that I grew up as a mundane." She put her hand on my arm, and I looked down and then back at her face in surprise. "I am not going to come between you and Jace, you're family."

I could see that she was being sincere, and suddenly, I wasn't mad anymore. I wasn't anything but calm. I gave her a half-smile to show that I knew she meant what she'd said. "Okay."

Clary smiled for a second and then tilted her head. "Hey, where's Simon?"

"Don't worry." Izzy smiled and walked across the room to sit on the bed with us. "He's in good hands with the boys."

"So, all of you... You're like family?" She asked Izzy nervously. I smiled a bit and Izzy chuckled.

"Translation, you want to know if I have any interest in Jace, myself." She replied.

Clary reached her hand up to rub the back of her neck. "Why would I care?"

"Because you do," I said, looking intently at her. "It's okay if you like him back. Jace is a great guy."

"And don't worry, in every way he's like my brother," Izzy reassured her. "The four of us have always treated each other like siblings."

"The Lightwoods took me in when I was eight, and took Jace in when he was ten," I explained.

Izzy smiled, and I could see the memories playing in her eyes. "We trained together, and learned to fight side by side."

Clary stood up and leaned her head back. "A few days ago, all I had to worry about was getting into art school." She inhaled deeply, "And now..."

Izzy smiled and sat up. "Is this the part where we give you the pep talk about harnessing your inner Shadowhunter?

"And accepting your true destiny?" I added.

Clary chuckled lightly. "Was that the pep talk?"

"Basically." Izzy and I replied at the same time.

"Clary... Remember, you were born to do this." Izzy told her.

"Yeah." I chimed in. "I know I wasn't the nicest about you being here, but no matter what has happened, you were born to do this."

"Not exactly feeling that." Clary looked at her feet.

"Yet," Izzy said with a smile.

"Okay, but now we just have to find Dot."

"And track down and kill the most rogue Shadowhunter in history before he kills us all," Izzy added. I rolled my eyes playfully and smiled at my best friend.

"You really know how to ruin a pep talk, don't you?" Clary asked sarcastically.

"Yup," I answered for her and laughed.

"C'mon," Izzy said, laughing. "Let's go." She started to walk out of the room but turned around again to face Clary. "Oh, and, Simon is kind of nerd-hot." She laughed again and left.

I started to think about it. I guess Simon was sort of cute. Maybe if he lost the glasses and gained some confidence...

When I got downstairs, Simon, Clary, and Izzy were all standing next to the weapon shelf. While Izzy was pulling it out, I heard Simon trying to talk Clary into leaving with him. "Let's get out of here, just you and me. We can find Dot ourselves."

"Simon, there are demons out there, okay? Actual demons with tentacles that want to murder us." Clary was trying to convince him that we could help her. "Do you know how to kill a demon?"

Simon close to her face and said, "It's an internet search away."

"I really don't think it's that simple." She argued.

"I bet you it's not that hard."

"You're going to regret leaving professional demon hunters when you die because of a mistake as dumb as believing what you read on the internet," I commented.

"Woah," Clary said as Izzy inspected one of the blades on the shelf.

"No, Izzy." I heard Jace before I saw him. He slapped Izzy's hand away but she just went back to touching the blade.

"Fifty bucks says he doesn't approve this mission." She said confidently.

Alec walked up a few seconds later. "I don't approve this mission." I tried to hide my snicker. "I spoke with the Clave. They're sending Seelie scouts to search for Valentine but they made it clear that the little girl does not leave the premises."

"Hey, my name is not 'little girl' okay?" Clary retorted. "I don't care what that Clave thing or you want, I'm going to find Dot."

Jace took this opportunity to try to talk Alec into it. "Alec, this warlock could have the answers we need. With Valentine's people out there searching for Clary she's not safe out there alone."

Izzy looked at her brother. "Jace has a point."

" _Et tu_ , Izzy?" He asked, frustrated. He looked back down at Clary. "Alright, since you have all the answers where do you suggest we search?"

"We should start at Dot's apartment on Greenpoint, there's this thrift store that she-" Clary let out a gasp without finishing and her hand suddenly clamped around the stone hanging around her neck. She stared, not saying anything.

When she didn't talk, I took a step toward her. "Clary, you good?" I grabbed the hand she was gripping around her necklace and before I knew it, I could see what she was seeing.

 _The woman was running in an alley and around the corner, straight into Pandemonium._

The both of us gasped and my eyes snapped open. Jace looked at the two of us. "What's wrong? What is it?"

"Weirdly, I think I know where Dot is." She revealed.

"I've seen her before," I said incredulously. "That was Dot?"

She furrowed her brow. "You saw her, too?"

I nodded. "Vividly." I looked at the rest of them. "Let's go."

"Great, I'll drive." Simon offered. We all just looked at him. "What? Unless you have, like, a Shadowhunter-mobile or something?" Izzy chuckled a little bit and I just smiled a little at him. He looked at me for a second. "Um, you were kidding about the runes on the floor killing me, right?"

I looked at each of them, a smile creeping onto my face. Alec's very own smile grew slowly and Izzy grinned. I shrugged my shoulders innocently and ran my hand down the side of Simon's very soft cheek. "Possibly."

The trip was short, and as we rounded an alley Clary gasped and stopped dead in tracks. "Clary, what is it?" I went to grab her wrist and it happened again.

 _Dot was lying on the ground, there were two men standing over her and one wielded a knife. "No!" Dot screamed._

"Dot," Clary whispered the warlock's name and took off running.

"Clary!" Jace shouted at Clary behind me.

"Clary!" I yelled trying to get her attention. "Clary, stop!" She did so and I took the opportunity to try to talk to her. "Where are you going?"

"Two men, Circle members..." She panted. "The same ones who came to my house, who took my mom..." She looked at me with fear in her eyes. "They have Dot."

"Clary, I know. I saw them, too." I told her, she looked at me strangely.

"How?"

"I don't know, we'll figure that out later. Right now we have to find Dot."

"They're gonna hurt her or kill her, we have to stop them!" She took off running again straight into Pandemonium. Clary walked through the club space in a rush and I tried to slow her down "Clary, hang on."

She saw there was no one there and began to fall apart. "No..." She was trembling. "She was just trying to help me." She turned around and looked at us, touching her necklace again. I noticed that it looked just like the purple bracelet I keep in my room and pocketed the thought for later. "Now, she's gone."

"Clary, I'm sorry." Simon tried to comfort his friend.

"You don't understand, Dot's like my big sister." She looked like she was about to cry.

"It's not safe here," Alec stated. "We need to get back to the Institute, right now."

"So, what now? Valentine has my mom and Dot and we're just going to give up?" She asked. I shook my head.

I stepped forward and took her wrists in my hands. "Clary, listen to me. We'll find her. Okay? We will, but running around like chickens with our heads cut off isn't going to help us find her any faster." I let go of her wrists. "Right now, Alec's right. We're not safe here."

"What about my memories?" She was grasping at whatever she could. "They can't just be gone."

Jace looked like he was contemplating for a second, then tilted his head. "There is another option."

"Don't even-" Izzy started to protest.

"Absolutely not," Alec argued.

Jace started to reason. "I'm not afraid of the Silent Brothers." He looked at me. "What do you think?"

"Who are the Silent Brothers?" Clary inquired.

"They Shadowhunters with superior powers," He started to answer.

I finished what she would want to hear, "who possess the ability to recover lost memories."

"A process that can also kill you," Alec commented. "So, there's that."

"Your bedside manner is abysmal," Simon said sarcastically to Alec.

Alec turned to Jace. "We've broken at least eighteen Clave rules and now you want to go to the City of Bones? There's no way. I won't allow it."

"This isn't our choice to make," Jace said, gesturing to Clary. "This is Clary's decision."

Clary looked at Jace and then turned to me. "What would you do, if you were in my position?"

I looked at Alec who shook his head at me and then at Jace who raised his eyebrows expectantly. Then I turned back to Clary. "I didn't know my biological mom, but if I was ever in a position where I had to rescue any of them," I gestured to my friends, "I would do everything I could."

"You can't ask her to do this, she doesn't know what she's facing." Izzy pointed out. "She's not prepared."

Clary sighed and spoke up. "If anyone can tell me another way to recover my memories and still get the answers we need, I'm listening."

She looked at each one of them and when no one had another option, she nodded. "That settles it."

"See?" Jace gloated. "I told you she was one of us." Jace started to head in that direction.

"He's right," I said with a smile and shoulder bumped Clary. "You are tough enough to be a Shadowhunter." She gave me a half-smile back and went to follow Jace. Alec went to follow them but I grabbed his arm first so Izzy and Simon could pass and I could talk to him.

"Why would you tell her to do this?" He asked me incredulously. "You know what the Silent Brother's are like."

"I've never met the Silent Brothers, but trust me when I tell you that Clary is strong enough to handle it." I walked beside him after the others. "Alec, I have to tell you something."

He furrowed his brow. "What?"

"Simon made a comment earlier today about how I should curious as to why Clary and I look so similar. He made a joke that it would be impossible for us to be twins but, Alec, I think it's entirely possible that we're twins." I said with wide eyes.

"Wait, like, biologically?" He asked.

I nodded and told Alec all about my discovery with the picture along with seeing her in my dream and the visions we kept sharing.

"Wait, it makes sense. You and Clary are identical, and then she turned out to be a Shadowhunter..." He trailed off.

"Her mom's name is Jocelyn, too," I added. "You know the necklace that she's got around her neck, that purple stone?" He nodded. "I saw Jocelyn give it to her when she pushed Clary through the portal, and I have a woven bracelet at the Institute with the same kind of stone. I had it when I came to the institute, too."

"Wait, if you and Clary are really sisters, twins, in fact, then why would you send her to the Silent Brothers?" He asked, genuinely concerned.

I gritted my teeth. "Because I think that whoever took her memories of the Shadow World also took her memories of me, which means they took mine, too." I turned away and started walking again. He kept my pace. "I came to Institute when I was eight years old and I had no recollection of a sister."

"So, you want to see if they could recover your memories, too?" I shook my head.

"I don't know if I want to remember, but I do know that Clary deserves to."

Alec put his hands out. "Wait, sister or not, I thought you didn't like Clary?"

"Jace is the reason I didn't like Clary, but I realized that even if he did like her, it wasn't her fault that I had issues with him. At that point, I realized that it wasn't her fault." I bumped him with my elbow. "It should be okay with you, too. I know how you feel about Jace, but that's not her fault, either." I tried to reason with him.

"Yeah, well, she's still a mundane-" He started.

I interrupted him. "No, she's not."

"-she acts like one, that's annoying enough. She's got Jace abandoning us, she always has the other one following her around, not to mention the fact that all of these unapproved missions are going to come back to bite me in the ass."

I laughed at him. "Feel better?"

"No." He said and left no room for argument. Then he started to smile and I couldn't hold back my laughter. "Okay, yes."

"Alright, let's go." We started running to catch up with others.

When we arrived where we were supposed to be and everyone hopped out of Simon's van, he was the first one to say what we all thought in true sarcasm.

"Yeah, this place isn't creepy, not at all."

Izzy chuckled. "Don't tell me you're afraid."

Simon tried to seem cool and failed. "Are you kidding me? I was born afraid... Which sounded a lot better in my head."

Alec was urgent. "Let's check it out."

Izzy went with Alec and Jace said, "Wait, here a minute, I wanna be sure it's safe," to Clary.

I stayed behind with them. Simon turned to Clary and spoke in a hushed voice. "Why are we doing this? We don't even know these people."

I rolled my eyes at her friend's lack of trust and took out my stele to activate my hearing rune. I focused on listening to the three up ahead.

I heard Alec talking to Jace. "Hey, if something goes wrong, if something happens to her, that's on us. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, and you know exactly what would happen if Valentine gets the Cup before we do. She's lost everything, Alec." Another pause. "I know exactly what that feels like. What's your problem with her anyway? Your family always used to welcome strays."

"You were never a stray. Neither was Addi."

"The point is nothing's changed. We're in this fight together. There's just one more of us."

"You don't get it, Jace. There's more riding on this girl's memories than the Cup."

"What do you mean?"

"Let me put it this way, Clary's mom isn't the only person we're looking for."

I didn't hear anything after that, but apparently, I was listening so intently that it showed on my face because I don't know how many times Clary said my name before I heard it.

"Yeah, I'm fine, sorry."

"Okay," Clary turned back to Simon and sighed. "I just wish my mom had trusted me enough to tell me about all of this." Simon just looked at her. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Simon shook his head slightly. "How are you not ultra-freaked out by all of this?"

Clary shrugged her shoulders, glancing at me and then back at Simon. "I guess I just always felt like there was something missing, some void I couldn't quite explain. Things are finally starting to make sense, but none of it's gonna matter unless I get my mom back."

Simon gave her half of a smile and a nervous, deep breath. "Then, let's do that."

"Clary," Jace called. "C'mon, it's all clear." Clary started walking toward Jace.

I looked at Simon and put my hand on the inside of his arm, gently pulling him along. "Let's go." I nodded toward the building.

I didn't miss how Clary took Jace's hand and how Simon's face fell because of it. "I know how that's gotta sting."

He looked at me while we walked, my arm hooked through his. "What?"

"She likes him, and he likes her." I paused, grimacing. "It has to hurt."

"Why would that hurt? She's my best friend, I just want her to be happy."

"Because you're in love with her," his head jerked up and I looked at him sympathetically, "and unrequited or not, love is really strong." I looked at Clary walking with Jace. "I have to talk to Clary, I'll be back." I let go of his arm and ran to catch up with them.

"You have to understand," I heard Jace say, "the Silent Brothers aren't like us.

"They lack your charm and superior people skills." She joked.

He contemplated for a moment. "Yeah, most people do." He paused. "The Brothers communicate without words, using just their thoughts."

"That doesn't sound so bad."

"Don't let their silence fool you," I interjected. "They'll hold the soul sword to your head and, with its blade, carve the truth from your mind. If you're not strong-willed enough, you will die."

"I take it back, that sounds level ten bad." She said.

"Clary, you should know, the pain will be excruciating," Jace spoke.

I chose then to reassure her. "Listen to me, neither of us would have told you to do this if we didn't think you could do it. You are strong-willed and you have nothing to hide. You can do this, you're tough. You're a Shadowhunter."

"But you don't have to-" Jace started but Clary didn't let him finish.

"I'll do anything. Walk through fire, battle demons, whatever it takes. I have to get my mom back. I can't... I won't lose her." She looked determined. Jace nodded and I smiled.

"You won't," Jace confirmed.

I altered it. "We won't." Then we walked up to the door.

She saw how dark it was and got nervous. "I can do this," she whispered.

"Yeah, you can. You're Clary freakin' Fray, you can do anything." Simon tried to hype her up.

She started to walk in and when Simon went to follow, I grabbed his arm. "Alright, hold up."

"Surprise, surprise. No mundanes allowed, just like in the training room, right? Wrong." It was almost comical how he spoke. "I've seen every horror movie ever made and the funny best friend who gets left behind... Deadman." I saw him gulp at the last two words.

Izzy laughed too and Jace replied. "You're not that funny."

I smiled and crossed my arms. "I disagree." I chuckled. "He cracks me up."

"You're easily amused." Jace directed at me. I narrowed my eyes.

"No, you just have no sense of humor."

"Okay, by all means, go ahead." He gestured to the door and Simon went to go in, but before he could, I called out, "Of course, the minute you enter, you'll die."

Simon spun around and pointed a finger at me. "See, the problem is, now I don't trust you."

Alec decided to affirm what I'd said. "She's not lying."

Izzy agreed. "Now." She grinned. "She was before."

Alec continued. "The rune energy in the City of Bones will kill any mundane who dares to enter, so, please..." Alec just gestured to continue.

"The Brothers creep me out. I'll mind the mundane." Izzy looked at Simon like a predator going hunting.

"I actually think I will, too." I gave Clary a meaningful look. "Clary, you've got this."

"Your sacrifice is noted, guys," Jace said and walked in.

Simon turned to Clary. "Talk about sacrifice, I'm missing a financial analysis class." I chuckled and Alec decided to leave.

"I can't be here anymore, so, Jace, I'm gonna go mind the perimeter." He said and walked away.

Izzy changed her mind. "Actually, you know what? I'm gonna go with Alec. Addi, you can handle one mundane." Without room for argument, she ran to catch up with Alec.

Clary spoke to Simon now. "I don't want to leave you."

"Go be a badass Shadowhunter, alright? Get your memories back, save your mother." He nodded to me. "I'll be right here..." Simon looked up at the building. "Guarding the entrance to hell."

Clary looked at me in question and nodded in reassurance. "We'll be okay."

She gave Simon a hug and then Jace called. "Clary, you don't keep the Silent Brothers waiting."

Simon said his parting words. "You got this."

She walked in after that, and it was just me and Simon.

I watched them go. "They're getting to be quite the team. Amusing..."

"No, not really." He disagreed. I smiled a little and then looked around at the darkness.

About fifteen minutes later, Alec and Izzy had come back from scoping out the perimeter and I had drawn a fire rune over a trash can because it was cold out. Jace and Clary still weren't back yet.

"So, is cracking someone's mind open supposed to take this long?" Simon asked nervously. "Maybe we, or, you... Should go check?"

Alec looked at Simon in annoyance. "Jace has it covered."

Izzy chuckled. "Take my word for it. The Silent Brothers are quite unpleasant."

"That's not helping." He sounded even worse than before. "Not at all."

"Besides," I added, "with the position Clary is in right now, she shouldn't have any unnecessary distractions clouding her mind."

"Well, what if Clary can't handle the Brothers? What does that-" Simon started to stammer and Alec interrupted him.

"It _literally_ never stops talking." He said in an exasperated tone, looking at me and Izzy.

Simon looked offended. "Is he always so charming?" He asked us.

Izzy smiled at her brother. "Firstborn."

"Heavy is the head that wears the crown." I shrugged.

"I feel his pain. Only son." Simon rubbed his hands together for warmth. "Mother wants me to be a CPA."

"And you?" I asked, genuinely curious. "What do you want?"

"Well... I'm in a band." He offered.

"Really? What type of music?" I asked, and then decided to guess. "Indie rock?"

"Yeah." He said and smiled wide. "What about you? Are you into music?" He asked me.

"I can play guitar, Jace taught me to play piano, and I sing just a little bit. I actually have this one particular song that I like to hum to myself... It always calms me down and things just seem to work out." I smiled and shrugged.

"Wow, that's awesome." He complimented me.

I grinned in return. "Thanks. Do you have any of your music on your phone?"

"I do, we recorded our last set. We killed. It's..." A look of realization passed over his face."I left it in the van."

"Let's go get it." I offered.

"Yeah." He said and turned to head in that direction.

Alec spoke up. "Where is it going?"

"We'll be right back, Alec." I rolled my eyes at the Lightwood.

When we got to the van, Simon just climbed in the passenger side to grab it. I leaned against him to be comfortable. When he unlocked his phone, it beeped and he got distracted. He looked at me. "Just a second, I have to find the right clip..."I didn't notice how close our faces were until I caught the way he looked down at my mouth. He started to move in closer and it sort of felt like I was too until we heard something snap in the dark.

I spun around. "What was that?"

I turned to face him again. "I'll be right back. Whatever you do, do not leave the van."

He nodded in agreement. "Got it, yeah." I shut the door to the van and made sure he locked it before I went to look around.

It was dark and I could hardly see, so I activated my vision rune and looked harder. When I didn't find anything, I went back to the van to check on Simon. What I saw made my stomach drop.

Simon was gone.

The passenger door to the van was open and Simon was nowhere to be found. "Simon?" I called out. "Simon? Simon!" There was no answer. I ran back to the group as fast as I could and saw Jace, Clary, Alec, and Izzy standing outside the building. I heard Clary speak just before I reached them.

"Where's Simon?"

"I told him to stay in the van," I explained. "I searched everywhere."

"He's gone?" She asked, wide-eyed. I felt awful.

"I can't find him." I was close to tears. "Clary, I never meant to lose him."

"You were supposed to protect him!" She screamed in my face before running off. "Simon!" I heard her call for him.

Jace chose then to air his opinion. "Ugh, these mundanes are killing me."

I rolled my eyes and we went to search with Clary. "Simon?" She was still calling for him.

"Is that the mundane's name?" A man asked. I didn't recognize the voice but when I looked up, I saw a man and woman, and Simon. The woman was holding him upside down over a ledge. "I'm afraid Simon's coming with us."

"No." Clary gasped and started running toward where she was dangling Simon. "No, he's not a part of this."

"And it'll my pleasure to kill you unless you return him," I spoke through my teeth.

"Careful," Alec warned. "We'd be violating the Accords."

"I'm afraid your sidekick's quite right." The man spoke again. "The Night Children have broken no laws. We're negotiating." His tone was condescending. "The mundane, unharmed, in exchange for the Mortal Cup."

"Vampires," I muttered.

"And the clock is ticking." He patronized. "Tick-tock people."

All we heard before the three of them disappeared was Simon's desperate, "Clary!"

"Simon, no! Simon!" She screamed helplessly, but it was no use.

He was gone.

* * *

Disclaimer- I don't own the original words, characters or ideas in this story. They belong to the Cassandra Clare and writers of Shadowhunters. I only own my own character and storyline.

Okay, now that we got that out of the way, I really hope you enjoyed this chapter and you are enjoying this story so far. Please favorite, review and tell me what you think, leave some polite constructive criticism and give me some ideas and what you think should happen next. I'll try to upload every few days but as you can see, these are long chapters and I only have so much time on my hands, but, nevertheless, I'll try. Until next time!

-Red


	3. Chapter 3

We were walking into the Institute with Clary in the lead and it was obvious that she was still pissed at me because Simon was gone. I couldn't really blame her.

"I still don't understand," she rambled, "how can Shadowhunters be better than what you call mundanes."

"Because we protect humans," Izzy answered. Clary glanced briefly at Izzy and then turned her gaze back to me.

"You're right." There was anger all over her face. "Humans, you protect humans. You left Simon all alone in the van." She looked at all of us. "Great job, guys. You rock."

"There is some truth to the idea that humans should have some modicum of common sense," Alec stated.

"No, Alec, she's right." I ran my hand through my hair. "It was my idea to go to the van so Simon could get his phone. I thought I heard something so I made him stay in the van and lock it." I shook my head, closing my eyes. "I shouldn't have left him. I'm going to make sure he's okay. We'll get him back." I reassured her. Her expression softened and she gave me a slight nod.

"Look," Jace got our attention. "They won't do anything to Simon. They just wanted to draw you out. They want the Cup and they think you have it."

"But why do they think that? Why does anyone think that?" Clary inquired. "What, my mom lies to me my entire life except, 'Oh, by the way, there's this magic cup I hid on, like, the planet Bongo but don't tell anyone.'?" She sighed. "What am I supposed to do now?"

Alec started walking further into the Institute. "We have to report to Clave."

"Great," Clary muttered.

Alec continued. "They have to know we've learned about Valentine."

"What. That he's my father?" They stopped. "Great. Fine, but what good does that do Simon?"

"Clary, it's all connected," I informed her. "The vamps want the Cup."

"Why? It makes new Shadowhunters."

"Nobody wants Valentine forming an army loyal to himself," Alec explained.

"Plus, it controls demons," Izzy added.

"They'll propose a trade." Jace paused. "Simon for the Cup."

"So the vampires will trade Simon for the Cup and Valentine will trade my mother for the Cup." Clary looked hopeless. "Either way I lose someone I love." She tilted her head. "What if I just tossed it up in the air and let them fight it out among themselves?"

Alec was annoyed now. "So, this doesn't matter to you?"

"Yes, of course, it matters!" She exclaimed. "Listen, when you saved my life, I put my trust in you." She looked around at all of us. "Now, I need to put your trust in me." She looked down. "I can't turn into what you are overnight."

"It's true," I spoke lightly. "She was raised a mundane."

"What, you're her spokesperson, now?" Alec asked me sarcastically.

"I don't need a spokesperson, I need a plan." She walked away quickly, and I went to follow her.

"Hey, Clary." I got her attention. "Your visit with the Silent Brothers, did it help?"

She looked at me with a serious expression. "Actually, they couldn't retrieve most of my memories, but what I did see answered some questions."

"Show me." I held out my hand for her to take.

"Huh?"

"Listen, I think there's a reason that we look alike and you happen to be a Shadowhunter and I think there's a reason that I could see those visions of Dot when I touched you." She furrowed her brow. "Think of the glimpse that you got back and touch my hand, I want to know if I can see it, too."

She nodded and took my hand, then she closed her eyes and I saw what she was seeing.

 _I was sitting by a lake with my mom and I saw myself wearing the same clothes I had on when I arrived at the Institute. I was eight years old. My mom was sitting on a bench and I saw a big, disgusting monster pop it's head out of the water. I didn't start crying, but Clary did. My mom activated her glamour rune and took out a Seraph blade. She slashed the demon's neck, and grabbed my hand and Clary's and pulled us away._

 _We drove away and the next thing I knew we were at someone's front door._

 _"Magnus, please. Help." My mom begged the man._

 _"Jocelyn, you won't be able to hide this world from them forever." He warned her._

 _I looked at Clary and then up at the man with glittery hair and cat eyes._

 _"I want you to take away all of Clary's memories of the Shadow World and her sister."_

 _"Why?"_

 _"Listen to me, I can feel the difference in them." She shook her head. "Addi is ready, and if she grows up in the Shadow World, she'll be able to teach, train and protect Clary no matter what happens to me." My mom started to cry. "But I can't lose both of them. The fact that they're together is making it too easy for Valentine to find them."_

 _"So you want me to take away all of Clary's memories of Addi and of who she really is, and you want me to take away all of Addi's memories of Clary." He questioned skeptically._

 _"Please, Magnus." She begged him. "You are their only chance."_

I snapped out of it and let go of Clary's wrist. "It's true, we really are sisters."

She nodded. "Twins." She paused. "Who's Magnus?"

I shrugged. "His name sounds familiar, but we'll figure that out after we save Simon."

She nodded her head and smiled. "Right, let's go."

Clary and I went back to the main room and she started looking around at all of the monitors and technology. "Look at all this stuff, these screens. I mean, can any of this help me find Simon?" She sighed. "Where is he, anyway? Some kind of crypt in Transylvania?"

"Actually, no." Jace looked at Alec. "That was Camille's outfit, right?" Alec nodded in affirmation. "They're locals."

"They're at the Hotel Dumort, down on Gansevoort Street," Izzy informed us.

"And we came back here? Why?" Clary asked, dumbfounded. "Let's go, now. Come on."

I grabbed her wrist. "Hang on, Clary."

"We need a Clave resolution for that," Alec said, crossing his arms.

I nodded my head. "Yeah, the five of us can't declare war on the vamps all by ourselves."

"And we can't react without considering our options," Alec added. "Downworlders are slaves to their impulses, we're not."

"Alec, you can't just jump on all Downworlders." Izzy scolded with a slight smile.

Alec grinned back at her. "Oh, that's right. Seelies have their charms, apparently."

"Right," Jace agreed with a knowing look.

"What are Seelies?" Clary asked.

"Like faeries, the Fair Folk," I explained. "Add pixies, nixies, elves... Anybody half-angel, half-demon. Kind of a catch-all term, really."

"Izzy can tell you all about them, she's got a thing."

"We all have our things, don't we." Alec's grin dimmed a bit and he looked away from Izzy. I saw the confusion on Clary's face but it quickly went away as she refocused on the task at hand.

"Okay, I can't listen to this." Clary shook her head. "Simon's been kidnapped by vampires. I guess I'll just take care of him myself." She walked away. I sighed.

"Clary, Clary you're going to get yourself killed." She just kept walking.

"Clary, Simon, too," I called. Just as I predicted she stopped in her tracks, then turned around and walked back to the table.

"Then help me," She pleaded. "While we consider other options, my best friend is suffering. Is that something Shadowhunters understand or am I just being a mundane?"

"Clary's right," Jace said after a minute.

I nodded in agreement. "They made the first move. We're gonna take care of this ourselves, right now."

Alec shook his head. "This is a bad idea, I-"

"Do you have a better one?" Jace asked. "Look, the vamps broke the Accords. They kidnapped a mundie, that's a big no-no. The Clave will give us a lecture and then be glad we did it. C'mon."

"Hard to argue with that," Izzy said looking from Jace to Alec.

Alec was still on the fence. "Even if we went ahead, I don't see how we get out of here without having to explain where we're going." He pointed out. "We need weapons, and we can't let anyone see us get them."

An idea popped into my head. "I know where to get what we need."

When we got to the graveyard, we climbed out of Simon's van and made our way to the one to we needed.

"Whose grave is it?" Clary asked, looking around like she could see in the dark.

"Mary Milligan," I answered, "born January 10th, 1802, died January 10th, 1878."

"Alright, Alec. Let's go." Jace said, obviously eager to get this done.

"Wait, what are we looking for?"

"Cache of weapons," I answered her again.

Jace explained further. "Stashed here with Ms. Milligan."

"Why are there Shadowhunter weapons in a churchyard?" Clary inquired.

"Because all of the ancient religions recognized demons," Izzy stated. I noticed she was rubbing her arms for warmth, but I didn't really feel the cold.

"They forgot about the threat because we've been here to protect them," Alec said in a voice that made it known he really didn't want to be here right now.

"Maybe so, but they should still be practicing how to take care of themselves." I felt like it was true in the sense that the Shadowhunter to mundane ratio was ridiculously unbalanced. We wouldn't need to be so perfect and work so hard if every single person knew how to protect themselves.

"You know that's a pipe dream. Mundanes don't protect themselves because they don't have the same abilities we do." Jace pointed out. I rolled my eyes.

"Maybe not, but it doesn't take a special ability to stay hidden or know how to avoid places with strong demonic energy."

"You guys just can't let up, can you?" Izzy asked incredulously. I was not in the mood to argue with anyone and neither was Alec, I could feel Jace sense that.

"You know what, Alec, why don't you go check out by the angel?" Jace asked in a way that wasn't really a question. Alec rolled his eyes and walked that way.

Jace turned to Clary, putting his hands on her shoulders. "We couldn't gear up at the Institute but we know our ancestors left a cache around here someplace. We'll find it."

Clary looked away from him and around the graveyard. "I always wondered where my dad was buried, I used to wish he was still alive."

I tilted my head. "Be careful what you wish for."

Jace turned back to her. "This isn't your fault."

She shook her head. "This is all my fault."

I heard Izzy's phone beep and then her response. "Excellent." She put her phone away. "He's home, I'm outta here."

"Wait," Clary called to her, "aren't you coming with us?"

"Oh, I wouldn't miss it for the world, but I gotta find out how to get into the vampires' lair."

Jace couldn't let her leave without cracking a joke. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"That shouldn't be hard," I muttered under my breath. He rolled his eyes at me.

"Addi," I whipped my head around to see Alec leaning against something. "Over here."

"Coming." I started over there and looked behind me. "Jace?"

"Yeah, coming." He said something to Clary and left her alone to meet us.

"We're crossing a line into vamp territory," Alec said in a hushed voice.

"That's the point." He gave Alec one of those bro shoulder-slap things. "C'mon, Alec. Cheer up, this is going to be fun."

"Damn it, Jace. Just... Think this through." Alec pleaded. "You don't even like this guy. This isn't about the mundane, it's about Clary. What, are you so desperate to get laid that you'll risk killing us?"

I looked at the ground guiltily. I wasn't just doing this for Clary.

"Wow, um, there's so much in that that was wrong, I'm just going to pretend I didn't hear it." Jace started to turn away but Alec stopped him first.

"That's the problem. You're not listening." I could tell Alec was frustrated. "Not to this or anything else I've said tonight." He sighed. "You don't even know this girl, why do you trust her."

"Alec," I interrupted. This had gone on long enough. "She's my sister."

"We don't know that yet-"

"Yes, we do," I told him. "I saw what Clary saw when she visited the Silent Brothers. The memory of us as kids, sitting at the Lake with Jocelyn. She is my sister, and for whatever reason, she was chosen to be raised as a mundane. We have to help her and we have to help the mundane that got into this mess because I was too stupid to stay with him. This isn't just about Clary anymore, it's about me, too." I took a deep breath. "If you don't want to help her, then please do it to help me."

Alec looked pissed. Jace stepped back in. "Look, you can trust her or not, that's not my business. But if you don't trust us? If you don't trust me-"

"Jace, Addi, I think I found it!" Clary called some ways away. "Mary Milligan!"

We didn't get to hear what Jace was going to say next. We made our way over to where she was standing and sure enough, she'd found the right one.

Clary was looking at the engraving on the stone. "Beloved servant?" She stood up. "Who wants that one a headstone?"

"Someone who is in service to a cause greater than themselves," Alec answered her, circling the big, stone box.

"At least she is now." Jace swatted the leaves off of the front until we saw the angelic symbol on it. "Abracadabra." He joked.

"Wait, you guys actually say that?" She asked dubiously.

Jace furrowed his brow. "No, Clary, we don't."

I activated the angelic rune on the box and it opened so that Alec and Jace could pull the cover off.

"Woah," Clary whispered. "Where's Ms. Milligan?" She picked up one of the Seraph blades in awe.

"Don't touch that." Alec griped at her. "You don't know how to use it."

Clary got cocky then. "What, like at Pandemonium when I killed that demon?"

"You didn't kill-" Alec started to protest but Jace interrupted him.

"Alec, I'm going to show her the right way to use it. Do you see what you need in here?"

Alec sighed and looked at the selection. "No, there's no bow here. I need one. I have to rune some arrows, that's back at the Institute." He turned away. "I gotta go."

Jace went over in front of him. "How are you gonna get back in the Institute?"

"In the back. Won't bother me if I'm alone."

Jace shrugged. "Okay, good. Go, I can finish up here." He turned to face the grave again.

I saw Alec start to walk away and contemplate before turning back around. "Hey, I understand what we need to do, and I trust you, Parabatai... But don't ever doubt me. No matter what I said." Alec put his hand on Jace's arm.

Jace put his hand up for Alec to take. "It's already forgotten. I'll see you at dawn."

"At dawn." Alec agreed.

When Alec left, I watched Jace try to teach Clary, in a way that felt sort of intimate, how to use a blade. I didn't say much because I felt like she needed this.

Then, they walked back over to where I stood at the casket. "How do you know they'll come back?" She asked us.

"Alec and Izzy?" I asked, and she nodded her head in confirmation. "We were raised together. They're pretty much our brother and sister."

She sighed. "You know Alec doesn't like me, right?"

"Alec doesn't like anybody." He countered.

"He's not wrong." I agreed.

"Why would he help me?" Clary asked, genuinely concerned.

"Did you hear what he called me just then?" He put the cover back on the grave. "We're parabatai. There's no human bond that compares to what Alec and I have."

I nodded. "It's the strongest bond that two Shadowhunters can have. Stronger than any kind of friendship, stronger than any kind of love..." I trailed off and refocused. "It's like you're physically and emotionally tethered to that person."

"And we're bound for life." He continued. "Bound to fight together, to protect each other." He paused. "In battle, our hearts beat as one."

"If one of them were to die, part of the other person would die, as well." I finished.

Clary's eyes widened over so slightly as she looked at Jace. "He'll be here, Clary." He assured her. "Are you ready?"

"I'm ready." She said with a slight smirk.

I grinned at her. "You look ready."

"I've gotta show Clary something, Addi," Jace told me. He had a gleam in his eye.

"Go ahead and do it but be careful. I need to go back to the Institute and grab something. I'm gonna see if Alec is still there and ask if Izzy's got anything yet." I looked at Clary. "I'll see you guys there."

They both nodded at me. I left and took Simon's van back to the Institute. It was a short drive, but it gave me a minute to think. I went in the back of the Institute like Alec said he would do and walked through the main room to get to the residency hallway. Then I heard something.

It was a shuffle in the training room. I furrowed my brow in confusion. I could hear voices, but the room was so big that I couldn't hear exactly who was in there. It was the middle of the night, so no one should have been up.

I walked over to the edge of the doorway and stayed hidden. I activated my hearing rune and did my best to listen in. I found that I recognized both voices, Alec and Hodge. I winced at the fact that Alec got caught.

"Don't tell me," Hodge was saying. "I don't want to have to report you."

"It's just that, you know Clary is-" Alec tried to explain.

"That girl is Valentine's-" He went silent and I knew that the rune that forbade him to talk about Valentine was causing him pain. "The monster's daughter."

"She's also Adrienne's sister," Alec told him. I heard the disappointment in his voice and narrowed my eyes. It made me nervous when my name came up in conversations that I wasn't supposed to know about.

"So, she's figured it out, huh?" Had Hodge already known?

"What? You knew?" Alec spoke my thoughts in question.

"Those girls are the spitting image of Jocelyn. We weren't to say anything about where Adrienne came from at her request. However, while we knew that Adrienne would grow up and be raised to know what was right and wrong without her father poisoning her mind, we don't know that Clary is pure at heart just yet."

"I don't understand. Why would Jocelyn want them separated instead of just raising them together as Shadowhunters?"

"Jocelyn was a complicated person. Valentine made that even more so. She wanted them to be able to live their lives without having to constantly look over their shoulders. When twins are born into a Shadowhunter family, they cannot only track each other more easily, but they can be tracked more easily. Shadowhunter twins are to be marked at birth, a mark that resembles a Parabatai rune but is to show that they were provided with another half. One that they didn't need to find, but also one that they can't choose. It called a Kaluha mark, a permanent rune."

"Hodge, you knew all of this and you never said anything?" Alec asked. I heard the disbelief in his voice, and I'm not sure my own would have sounded any different. "How much do you actually know about Shadowhunter twins?"

"Jocelyn was my best friend. I learned everything I could about Shadowhunter twins after she told me she was pregnant with them." He stumbled over his words. "I didn't know that she would split them up until we got an eight-year-old Adrienne on our doorstep."

"What else can Shadowhunter twins do?" I couldn't stop myself. If Hodge knew all this information, I was going to get it out of him. I need to know. "Can they see each other's memories? Do they get to pick their parabatai, too, or are we just automatically stuck with each other?"

"Addi..." Alec looked at me with wide eyes, not knowing that I had been listening.

Hodge looked surprised, too. "Adrienne, I'm sorry I didn't tell you-"

I was already gesturing my hands for him to stop. "No, I don't want an apology and I don't care about why you did it. Just tell me what else Shadowhunter twins are capable of."

Hodge looked at me with regret in his eyes and sighed in defeat before he continued spewing his hidden information. "Shadowhunter twins can communicate through images and memories, and sometimes words. Rarely, but it happens." I thought back to the times when I touched Clary and saw what she saw. "Twins choose what to let each other see. They have to be trained to do it, though."

I shook my head in awe. "This explains so much."

"You've done this before." Alec inquired with his face an expression of discovery.

I nodded. "Yes, by accident." I looked at Hodge. "I didn't understand how it was possible."

Hodge leaned against the table and stared at me in wonder. "Shadowhunter twins are powerful separately, and even more so together. That's why they're so incredibly rare." He paused. "To answer your earlier question, twins can choose their own parabatai, but it rarely happens because when it does, that parabatai is linked to both of you. It's only been seen one other time in history, with one of the first Shadowhunters. It's very difficult to find someone who is willing to be that intimately linked with two different people."

I shook my head, trying to process everything all at once. "This is a lot. I need to tell Clary."

"Right now, we need to go meet up with the others," Alec told me. I looked at the time and it was getting late. Alec's phone beeped. "Izzy found out how to get in."

"Okay, I have to grab something first and then we'll go." I started toward the residency hallway with Alec following me without a goodbye to Hodge. I unlocked my bedroom door with a rune and went to the nightstand. I searched through all of the junk in the drawer before I finally found what I was looking for. "My bracelet."

I slipped it on my wrist and Alec stared at me in question. "You came all the way here for a bracelet?"

"It's made out of the same purple rock that Clary's necklace is made out of. I think we both have it for a reason. I'm going to find out what that reason is." I glanced at Alec again while adjusting it to my wrist. "Come on, we have to save Simon-"

 _I was in a fancy room with gold furniture and a mini bar. There were people talking and I looked over to find Simon and the woman who assisted in taking him, Camille, lounging over him._

 _She kissed him seductively and lightly ran her nail across his skin. "Would you like to help me?" She asked in an innocent voice._

 _"Yes," Simon said immediately, not even opening his eyes. "Anything."_

 _Camille groped his leg, running her hand up and down his thigh. "Could you tell me where the Mortal Cup is?"_

 _"I wish I could... But I don't know." Simon smiled, his eyes still closed._

 _"Clary knows." She pointed out._

 _"No, she doesn't." He assured her. His voice was breathy, and she went in to kiss him again._

 _Camille pulled away and studied his throat. "What if she didn't tell you?"_

 _"No," he breathed, "that's not it. Why do you think we went to the City of Bones?" Camille looked at his eyes now, slightly more intrigued. "She's trying to find a way to remember, but they said it's like someone erased her whole past. Some kind of spell, or something."_

 _Camille lost interest in Simon now and looked away, an irritated expression on her face. "Damn, Magnus Bane."_

I was back at the institute now. I blinked, and Alec was staring at me with a worried expression. "Addi, what the hell?"

"I saw him." I realized, and it hit me like a ton of bricks. He was still alive. "Alec, I saw Simon. He's alive. He's okay."

"How did you see him?" Alec looked so confused and I felt for him but I didn't know how to explain it.

I shook my head to clear it. "I don't really know, but I did." I grabbed his arm. "Come on. We have to meet Izzy and help him."

We ran out of the Institute and made our way to the Hotel DuMort as quickly as possible. We found Izzy at the top of a stairway in the back of the building. "Izzy!" Alec called and she turned around with a smile as we made our way up the stairs to join her. "We got your text. Where are we exactly?"

"It's an old meat packer's service entrance." She explained smugly. "If we go back there we come up into the basement of the Hotel DuMort." She grinned. "Perfect, right? We distract the vamps, Clary and Jace have time to find Simon."

"Okay." He said quietly.

"Okay?" She asked, slightly offended. "It was hard work interrogating Meliorn to get this intel."

"Great job, Izzy," Alec said with a sarcastic smile. I was surprised he didn't ruffle her hair like a child.

"You have faerie dust on your dress." I giggled, and she couldn't stop herself from smiling.

"And I hate being the distraction," Alec complained as we made our way down the hall.

"I don't," Izzy said in a happy voice.

I chuckled. "We know."

She rolled her eyes at me and directed her next comment at Alec. "You know you'd be a lot happier if you weren't so freakin' repressed." She said in a snarky voice. "Alec?" He didn't answer her. "Hello?"

"Alec?" I asked, suddenly worried. He didn't answer me, either. He just continued walking ahead without a word.

"You're really not going to talk to me are you?" Izzy asked in disbelief.

Alec didn't look at either of us. "That's because you have no idea what you're talking about."

"But I do, you're hiding from yourself, not me." She stated. "You have feelings whether you like 'em or not, Alec."

"Guys, I don't really think this is the time," I suggested.

"Or the place." Alec agreed.

Izzy put her hands on her hips. "I don't know. Looks pretty smooth so far."

The two of them didn't say anything else until we came to a door. Izzy spoke first then. "This must be the way." Izzy pulled the door open only to find six vampires on the other side. She closed it immediately and looked at us.

"Okay, not that smooth." She retracted her earlier statement as we all tried to hold the door closed.

"Any day now." I prompted Alec to hurry the hell up with his stele.

"Well, if you held the door still it might be easier."

He tried to put a locking rune on the door, but it wasn't working. "It's not taking it." He tried again with no luck. I suddenly had another idea. I took the Seraph blade that Alec had with his arrows and went to the pipes lining the ceiling. I cut part of the pipe out with two clean swipes and stuck it through the handle on the door to keep it shut.

I grinned in achievement. "Whoever said the pen was mightier than the sword was an idiot." Izzy and I stood back from the door.

"No kidding." She agreed.

"When you're right, you're right," Alec added, following us back a bit.

We waited for them to bust through it and I couldn't help but smile.

"Do you think they know where we are?" Izzy asked, grinning.

Alec shrugged. "That's the idea, right?" They were starting to break the pipe piece. "How long do you think we have to distract them for?"

"Ten more minutes," I said, determined.

"Ten minutes? Are you kidding?" Alec pulled out an arrow and got ready to shoot. "We're liquid lunch in five."

"So, let's distract them," Izzy said, excited.

"So, let's distract them," Alec repeated her, bracing for what came next.

"You better get ready," I told them. I saw Alec raise his bow and Izzy let loose her whip.

I poised my daggers and as I did, the doors busted open. It happened quickly. I threw a dagger at one of them and Alec shot another. Izzy took down another and the ones we hit disintegrated. I saw one along the wall, trying to hide, I went to go grab the dagger I threw and waited to move until the one hiding attacked me, and then I stabbed it in the neck. I stood up and went to join Alec and Izzy again.

"This is fun," Alec commented, but I couldn't tell if he meant it or if he was being sarcastic.

Izzy laughed, and I grinned. "Keep coming, boys." We taunted them.

When the rest who came were killed, we made our way to where the noise was coming from. We came into the room and saw Clary and Jace fighting the vamps.

The vamp holding Clary in a chokehold looked at Alec who was ready to shoot. For a second I thought he might try to shoot him no matter how close Clary was, but then he turned his aim to the wall to let the sunlight in, causing the vamp to drop his grip and disintegrate so Clary could grab her blade.

I saw her stab another one and Jace finally killed the one he was fighting. For a second, it was quiet.

"I killed him," Clary said.

"He was already, dead." Jace pointed out.

Izzy walked forward. "Plus, he wanted to kill you, Clary, remember that." She glanced at Jace. "She did great, right?"

"Yeah, you did," Jace assured her.

I nodded in agreement. "You should be proud."

She smiled ever so slightly. "Thanks, but it's not about me. Let's go find Simon."

I was the first to follow her, eager to find the mundane, myself. We quickly found the room that Simon was being held in and the man who took him, Raphael, had him with a knife to his throat.

"Simon!" Clary and I shouted at the same time.

"Clary!' Jace called as she started walking toward them. "Stop, that won't do any good."

"Listen to him, Clary Fairchild. Put it away." He shrugged slightly. "I've had more than enough of your friend for one day. I'd love to cut his throat. Don't give me a reason." We hesitated a second before he said it more forcefully. "Put it away."

Clary and Jace both put away their Seraph blades.

I spoke up. "Simon. Simon, are you alright?"

He started to answer. "I wouldn't say alright-"

"Stop talking." I saw Raphael bring the blade closer to his neck.

I narrowed my eyes at the vampire. He spoke again in a taunting voice. "Now, if you would all just follow me." He started backing away with Simon. "Let's go."

We did as he said and followed him up the stairs. "C'mon, let's go. Up here, now." He prompted. He backed up and stood still so he could watch us pass him. "That's right, get down there now. Do it or I'll kill him right now."

"Look, we're not gonna hurt you." I started to try to reason.

Clary finished my thought. "We just want Simon."

"I'm glad you do. We don't, we wanted you."

"Well, here I am." Clary tried to go at Raphael but Jac continued to push her along, which I was grateful for.

"Stop!" I exclaimed.

"I said 'wanted'. Not my idea. Now, get out. Go!" He exclaimed.

"Not without Simon," I said forcefully.

"Shut up. Open that door right now or I'll kill him right here."

"Listen to him!" Jace yelled.

"But Simon will die if-" Clary started to argue but didn't have the chance before the sunlight shone through the doorway and Raphael hid behind something with Simon still in his arm.

"Clary, Addi, go!" Simon tried to force us to leave him.

Jace started yelling again. "Go, go, go!"

Before Jace and I were out the door, Raphael did something unexpected. "Go! Take him! Go!" He lowered the knife and pushed Simon forward. I caught him before he fell over and he turned around to face the vamp.

"I don't know how to thank you." Really, Simon?

I pulled him up with us. Raphael responded. "Don't thank me, you mean nothing. This is about Valentine and the chaos he can bring."

"C'mon!" I yelled and forced Simon out the door before Raphael called me. I whipped my head around again.

"Adrienne Fairchild. Remember who your friends are."

I furrowed my brow and Jace pulled me out before I could say anything back, shutting the door behind me.

We stood on the rooftop for a minute, processing what just happened. Simon broke the silence. "Shouldn't we get the hell out of here?"

Jace gave him a look. "Why, Simon?"

"They're right downstairs." He stated. I saw the fear in his eyes.

"Let them come after us," Jace said without blinking. "They'll just turn into a bunch of fried eggs out here, I thought you said you watched movies?"

Izzy, Alec, and Jace walked up the staircase to a higher part of the roof. Clary took in the sight of Simon for a minute. "Oh, my God. Oh, my God, it's actually over." She walked over and took his face in her hands. "I was so afraid I would lose you, but it's true. You're actually here."

I looked away from them, partly because the moment felt very intimate and partly because I didn't really want to see the embrace, anyway. I felt happy, though.

"You know I would do anything for you." He said back to her.

"You don't have to die!" She exclaimed.

"I'd rather not do that." He agreed without missing a beat. I chuckled at his humor in a serious moment.

She pulled him in for a hug. "I couldn't live without you." He pulled away to look into her eyes.

"Say that again." He asked seriously.

"I couldn't live without you, Simon." He took in a shaky breath. "You're all I have left. My whole life just disappeared. I'm supposed to be this other thing, live this other way...You're my best friend." I saw his face dim even as she kissed his cheek. "Don't you ever, ever, let you get yourself in that kind of trouble again. Got it?"

"Yeah." He promised her. Then he hugged her again.

I walked up to them, then, and put my hand on Simon's shoulder. "She's right, Mundie. It's a pain in the ass trying to track you down when you go missing, even when it's my fault that you did." I frowned a bit at the memory of him not being in the van when I called him. "I'm sorry I didn't watch out for you better."

He chuckled a bit. "It's okay, Adrienne. I don't blame you."

"Are you sure?" I asked in total uncertainty.

"Yes, definitely. I'm especially glad that you came to save me." I smiled at him and I gave him a hug, wrapping my arms around his warm body.

"Me too." I agreed and pulled away. "By the way, you can call me Addi."

He grinned. "Will do."

"Stop!" We heard Jace yell from the ledge above us. He talked quieter when he realized how loud he was. "Just stop."

Alec didn't flinch. "I'm older than you, Jace. I'm not in your shadow."

Jace shook his head. "If you really feel that way about her, why did you help us tonight?"

Alec only said one thing before he walked away. "I wasn't helping her."

He left then. Jace looked frustrated and then looked down at us. He stared at Clary with longing and then glanced at me inquisitively. I could only think about one thing in total relief.

My friends were safe.

* * *

Disclaimer- I don't own any of the original words, characters, or storylines in this story. They belong to Cassandra Clare and the writers of Shadowhunters. I only own my own character and ideas.

Okay, guys. That's the next chapter. It's really long and it took awhile to write so I hope you enjoyed. I wanted to try making them all relatively the same length, but I'm kind of just making this stuff up as I go so... I guess you'll get what you get. You're welcome. :D Anyways, favorite the chapter and leave me reviews with thoughts and ideas, please. I'd really appreciate it and until next time!

-Red


	4. Chapter 4

_I couldn't move. I was strapped to a chair, and I was sitting next to an eight-year-old Clary. She looked at me in panic, and I was confused as to why we were here. I saw Jocelyn and a man talking. I vaguely recognized this man. He had glitter in his hair and his eyes were ringed with dark makeup, but what made him really stand out was that his eyes weren't human. They were the eyes of a cat._

 _"Mom?" Clary called from beside me. "Mom, I don't wanna do this."_

 _"Clary?" I asked for her attention, but she was focused on our mom and the man._

 _The man was talking to her in a hushed voice. "They won't be children forever, Jocelyn."_

 _"For now, I don't want them to be together. He'll find them." She covered her mouth with her hands, tears overflowing her eyes._

 _The man came near Clary, and his fingertips glowed with blue light. He touched his fingers to Clary's forehead and then to mine. I started to scream._

I woke with a start. The dream freaked me out and I felt like I should go check on Clary. I walked out of my room and into the hallway, but the closer I got to the end of it, the more I thought I heard voices. Then it became clear. I _was_ hearing voices. Clary was talking to Simon, and when I rounded the corner I saw Jace standing outside of the door listening in.

I stopped walking for a second and listened, too. "I'm so sorry that my messed up life put you in danger." She was apologizing to him. I tilted my head to hear his response.

"I'm fine." He tried to assure her.

"No," she argued, "if those vampires hurt you, I couldn't live with myself." I close my eyes when she said that, knowing that it was a real possibility. "You're all I've got left." I exhaled as Jace turned around, and his eyes widened as he saw me standing right behind him.

"What the hell are you doing?" He whispered to me. He crossed his arms, an annoyed look on his face. I narrowed my eyes at his hypocrisy and crossed my own arms.

"I could be asking you the same thing." I countered. "Usually when a guy likes a girl as much as you like Clary, they'd give that girl the respect of letting her have a private conversation."

He sighed. "As far as she knows, it was private." He walked past me then, heading to his own room. "By the way, Ms. Righteous, you were listening, too."

I scoffed. "She's my sister, I don't need to worry about impressing her. She's stuck with me." I walked a bit faster to catch up with him. "You know Simon is totally in love with her, right?"

He chuckled. "Is that supposed to be threatening?"

"It's supposed to show you that you need to be nice to him if you're going to win her over." He stopped walking when I said that, leaning against the wall.

"I'm not worried about winning her over, and since when do you care about my love life? Maybe you should be more focused on your own." I flinched when he said that. Didn't he know that I cared if he was happy?

"Just because the two of us didn't work out, doesn't mean that I don't think you deserve someone good. We grew up together, Jace. I do care about your happiness." I sighed, then I backtracked. "Wait, what do you mean I should be more focused on my own?"

He laughed again without looking at me, and I cleared my throat expectantly. He rolled his eyes before answering. "You just said it yourself, the mundie is totally in love with Clary."

I dropped my mouth in shock before I recovered enough to dignify that statement with a response. "That mundie's name is Simon, and he has nothing to do with my love life."

He raised his eyebrows in disbelief. "Oh, he doesn't? Well, then tell me why the hell it was so important that we save him from getting drained dry?"

"Clary is my sister." I pointed out, slightly annoyed at his patronizing tone. "He is her best friend. I'm the one that got him into that situation. It was important because it would have killed her to lose him, which is why you did it, right? Even if he wasn't, we got him into this mess and he isn't any less of a good person just because he's a mundane." Jace stood there with a smirk on his face. I put my hands on my hips and glared at him. "What?"

"You totally like him." He stated, chuckling to himself.

I punched him in the shoulder, making him laugh harder. "I do not. I don't even know him, and even if I did, he's a mundane. Mundanes and the Shadow World don't mix."

Jace's face softened slightly. "You know what happened with Dylan wasn't your fault."

The memory of Dylan filled my mind, the boy who should've never gotten involved. I clamped my eyes shut, trying to rid my mind of the harsh memory. "I think I'm gonna go back to bed."

"Addi... Are we okay?" He asked as I turned to walk back to my room.

I gave him a small smile, walking back over to give him a hug. "Always, Jace. We are always okay." When I let go, he was smiling back at me. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

I left him standing in the hallway and returned to my room, locking the door. I fell asleep quickly and didn't dream, but I did wake in the morning with a new sense of determination. Once I'd showered, gotten dressed and pulled my messy hair back into a ponytail, I grabbed my leather jacket and headed into the main room where everyone was waiting for me. Everyone except one person.

"Hey," I said and they all looked at me. "Where's Simon?"

"He left," Clary revealed to me. What happened to all that talk in her bedroom last night? "He doesn't think we can protect him."

"What? This is quite literally the safest place he could be." I was so confused, why would he have left?

"I told him that." Jace clarified and sighed. "Right now, we need to talk about Magnus Bane."

"The high warlock of Brooklyn," I stated. He nodded his head at me. I'd done a little bit of research on the man who kept appearing in my head.

"He's over 300 years old, and as you can see, he's not exactly shied away from the pleasures of this century." Hodge was explaining as he brought up pictures on the screen in front of the table. His tastes are both exquisite and quite excessive."

"He looks like the Downworld's David Guetta," Clary commented.

"Guetta's already a Downworlder," Izzy chimed in. She raised her brows when Clary looked at her doubtfully. "Vampire? Ever seen him in the daylight?"

Alec was annoyed. "Can you two focus? This not a joke."

"Someone needs to get slayed..." Izzy teased the older Lightwood.

"Alec's right," Hodge said, getting back to the point. "Now, Magnus is one of the most powerful warlocks I've ever known. He has a deep mistrust of Shadowhunters."

"Well, then why did he help my mom remove our memories?" Clary questioned. "Isn't she a Shadowhunter?"

I looked at Hodge. "Yes, one of the best," he said, "but 'help' might not be the most accurate word."

I narrowed my eyes. "What does that mean? He knew it was a bad idea?"

Hodge gestured for me to slow down. "Now, did he provide a service for Jocelyn? Perhaps, but more than likely your mother paid Magnus handsomely for his magic."

Jace spoke up, then. "Warlocks usually require payment before they help anyone with anything."

"Word from the Clave is that most warlocks have gone into hiding since Valentine began hunting them," Alec informed us.

"Valentine must be searching for the warlock. Where did Jocelyn-" Hodge tried to ask a question before the pain his rune caused him to cut off with a choke.

Clary looked alarmed. "Hodge, your rune. Are you okay?" He nodded and Clary turned back to the rest of the group. "So, how do we find Magnus?" She asked.

"We don't," Jace answered, cryptically. "Magnus finds us. We'll set up a meeting, somewhere protected. Lure him out of hiding."

"And I know exactly where we do it," Izzy said with a smile. She clicked a few buttons and brought up a picture of a flyer for a party.

"A Downworld rave," I said, chuckling at her ability to always find a way to party. "Nice, Izzy."

"And where'd you get that?" Alec inquired.

"During my surveillance of the Downworlders. From what I hear, Magnus likes to party."

Alec shook his head. "He'll never go for it. Not with Valentine trying to kill him."

"Of course he will." Jace disagreed.

I nodded my head. "He'll blend in. Hide in plain sight."

Clary seemed nervous, and she started looking at the flyer again. "I don't know, it seems-"

"Trust me," Izzy assured her. "If Magnus is coming out of hiding, he's going to one of the biggest parties of the year."

"Never underestimate Magnus' hedonism," Hodge told her. "Or his greed. Come with me." Hodge led us to one of the runed tiles in the training room and opened it, pulling the tile out of the floor and revealing a compartment that held was looked like a silver necklace with a ruby the size of a Zippo lighter.

"Is that real?" I asked incredulously.

"A four-karat, unheated Burmese ruby." He informed us. "This necklace has special meaning to Magnus Bane, as it was a gift from him to his then lover, Camille Belcourt."

"Wait, Camille and Magnus were lovers?" Clary asked.

I commented with a chuckle. "Warlock gets around. He might have come in handy yesterday."

Alec rolled his eyes and Jace chuckled at my joke along with me.

"Magnus bought it in 1857 for the price of his London townhouse." I gaped at that. How could he trade a townhouse in London for a necklace for that slutty vamp? "Now, the jewel is enchanted by a spell that alerts the wearer to the presence of a demon."

Izzy felt the jewel, testing its weight in her hand. "It's so beautiful."

"Magnus has longed to reunite with this necklace," Hodge dangled it in front of her. "Offer it to him. He might just take the bait."

Jace started to walk away. "I'll send Magnus a fire message to arrange a meeting." He stopped then and met each of our eyes. "We have to get to Magnus before Valentine does."

A few hours later, I found myself upstairs in Izzy's room, once again trying to find an outfit to go on a mission.

"Clary, no Downworlder would be caught dead in that," I told her as Izzy inspected her very mundane outfit.

Izzy sighed, going to pick out something for her. "Plus, it's a party. Not a poetry slam."

"Well, I don't really have any party clothes with me, so..." She shrugged her shoulders.

I rolled my eyes and shot her a look that said 'duh'. "Clary, you can wear just about anything of mine, or Izzy's. We're all pretty close to the same size. Besides, Izzy loves to play dress up."

Izzy smiled and stuck her tongue out at me, holding up something made of pink tulle. She gave it to Clary and Clary's expression was comical. The dress was obviously not her style. "You realize someday you're gonna have to tell me where and when."

"Where and when what?" Izzy asked as she draped a black boa over Clary's shoulders.

She laughed. "Where you get your spending money and when you're letting me go to a store."

I grinned at her. "Good luck with that one. I had to beg Izzy to let me pick out my own clothes after she came home with a skirt for me that could have passed as a belt."

Izzy came over with a little black dress and Clary instantly rejected it. "Okay, that dress is way too tight."

"It's stretchy." She forced the dress into Clary's hands. "Put it on."

Clary sighed in defeat and went behind the accordion wall to try it on. "Ugh, fine."

I picked up a pair of black heels and dropped them next to her feet. "Try these. You could stand to gain a few inches."

Clary stuck her head out to look at me with narrowed eyes. "You're the same height I am."

"And when I go out on missions, I wear heels." I grinned at her and she rolled her eyes, retreating behind the wall again. "I always wore Converse until Izzy convinced me to expand my horizons."

"I don't know guys, I think I'm really more of a 'jeans and t-shirt' type of girl." Clary was so mundane.

Clary came out from behind the wall to look in the mirror. The dress looked amazing on her and the heels added at least three inches. "You look amazing, just like a Shadowhunter."

"You're so lucky to have such a flat chest. I can never wear that without a bra." Izzy mused. Clary looked at her reflection and I giggled at Izzy's comment.

Jace walked into the room and saw Clary's new outfit. He glanced at me and Izzy in approval and then took in Clary's appearance. "Someone's looking badass."

Clary spun around to look him in the eye. "Oh, thanks."

I stood up and Izzy walked over next to her. "She cleans up well."

I nodded in agreement. "Okay, I'm gonna go see Alec."

"I'm coming with you, he never knows what to wear to these parties either," Izzy followed me out of the room.

Alec was actually in the training room, looking at the weapons on the table. He looked nice, though. Izzy and walked up to him and she ran her hands over an arrow. "Pick a weapon, I suggest your whip." He said with a bit more attitude than needed.

I furrowed my brow and Izzy looked slightly offended. "What's wrong with you? The tone wasn't necessary." I asked him.

"Nothing." He responded shortly, leaning over to take the arrow from her.

She sighed. "We're going to a Downworlder's rave. You should be a little more excited."

He called after her as she walked away to look at a blade. "It's a mission, not a party."

"Yeah, whatever." She muttered.

"He's right, Isabelle. We might be going to this party but we do need to focus. We don't know Magnus, he could be dangerous." I pointed out.

Izzy turned around to face us, annoyed. "You know, before Clary got here, every day was the same. Go on a mission, kill demons. Go on a mission, kill demons. At least now, things are interesting."

"Interesting." He shook his head. "Valentine is alive and actively seeking the Cup. He threatens our whole world, and we're helping his daughter." I raised my brows at that. He saw me and held up his hand. "The one we don't know who just came out of nowhere. Who, by the way, we have no reason to trust." He threw his arrow back down on the table. "On top of that, we're gonna end up overpaying some warlock who may or may not have information we need so, no, Izzy. I don't find it interesting."

It was silent for a moment. "Woah," Izzy said in amusement.

I crossed my arms and leaned back, a small smile on my face. "Feel better now?"

"No, I don't." He answered immediately with a scowl. My smile grew into a full-blown grin and I saw Izzy smirking, too, until Alec mirrored our expressions. "Okay, maybe a little."

I shook my head, feeling serious again. He worried me. "You can't keep bottling things up, Alec. It's only a matter of time before they explode."

"And not the fun kind of explode." Izzy pointed out.

Alec rolled his eyes. "Alright, let's go." He grabbed his arrows and strapped them to his back. "And we're not going for the music." Izzy and I shared a look before we followed him.

When we all got the rave, Alec and Izzy went to secure the perimeter while Jace, Clary and I made our way through the line to get in.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Clary was asking Jace. "Last time we were here, this place was crawling with vampires."

"Relax, all Downworlders hang out here," Jace assured her. She ran her fingers through her hair nervously. "We just came on vampire night."

"Right," she replied sarcastically, "and when is this all going to sound normal to me?"

"I don't know," Jace said with a shrug.

"When you start to forget what life was like as a mundane, this will be normal to you," I told her as matter-of-factly.

Clary glanced at me with wide eyes and then started looking straight ahead. "Great."

Alec and Izzy joined us then. Alec gave the 'all clear' and Izzy looped her arms through mine and Clary's.

"Do you think red's my color?" She asked, glancing down at the necklace settled into the hollow of her throat.

I rolled my eyes and Clary answered her question. "Iz, with a body like yours, everything's your color."

I tilted my head in agreement. "She's not wrong."

"Good point." She said with a sultry smile. "Damn, I make this necklace look so good."

"Will you take it off? I'm certain Magnus Bane doesn't want drool on his ruby when we make the exchange." Alec snapped.

She tilted her head playfully. "You know, I wouldn't be so sure. Most men like it when I admire their jewels."

"Can you just give it to Jace?" Alec asked, running his hand over his face.

I groaned turning to face the Lightwood boy. "Can you relax? You're such a buzzkill. Honestly, Alec, what safer place to put an enchanted necklace than around a Shadowhunters neck?"

"In a Shadowhunter's pocket so it's not drawing attention to anyone who would be interested in taking it." He gestured for Izzy to give it to Jace again and she reluctantly did so. I rolled my eyes at Alec and turned back around.

The inside of the club was full of Seelies, vampires, and warlocks and everyone glowed in lights of blue, red, and green and they danced in slow motion. "Try to blend in, keep your weapons ready," Jace said with caution over the loud music.

We wove through the crowd until Jace stopped in front of us. I searched for the cause and found what he was looking at- the man from my dream. The same glittery hair, the same dark makeup... The only thing I didn't recognize was the annoyed expression. "Magnus," Jace called to him. He heard his name and stood up, walking over to where we were.

"Clary Fairchild." He said in awe as he looked at my sister. Then he noticed me and his eyes widened. "Adrienne Fairchild. The most famous pair of Shadowhunter twins ever known in one room. You've grown into very beautiful, young women."

I wondered briefly how he'd been able to tell us apart at the first glance, then decided that that was a question for another day. "Magnus Bane," I said his name and it felt like acid on my tongue. I guess I didn't realize just how angry I was about losing my memories until the culprit was right in front of me. "So you're the one who stole our memories."

He held up a hand as if not to be blamed. "At your mother's request. She knew the risk." He turned to Jace expectantly. "Show me the jewelry, Shadowhunter." He commanded.

Jace let the necklace swing from his hand but when Magnus reached for it, he moved out of reach. "Ooh, give Clary and Addi back their memories and then you get the jewelry."

Magnus pointed at the necklace. "I have to confirm it's authenticity." He wiggled his fingers, silently asking for it again. Jace reluctantly set the jewel down in the warlock's palm and he studied it.

"Amor verus numquam moritur..." Magnus murmured, staring at the back of the jewel. I instantly knew what he said.

"True love cannot die." I translated it before he could and he looked at me in surprise.

"Yes," he went back to looking at the necklace. "Oh, how I've missed this jewel."

"Now it's your turn to pay up," Clary demanded.

Magnus had this look on his face that I could quite place. "I wish I could return your memories, but I no longer have them."

"What?" Clary asked quietly.

I shook my head and held out my hands to stop him from talking for a second. "Um, if you don't have our memories, where the hell are they?"

"I fed them to memory demon for safekeeping." He talked so quickly that at first, I thought I'd heard him wrong, but from the expression on his face, I knew I hadn't.

"How the hell is that safekeeping?" I demanded. I was genuinely pissed off now.

Jace was just as annoyed as me. "Why the hell would you do that?"

"To protect Adrienne, Clary, and the Cup." He said it like it was obvious when in reality it was just stupid. "If Valentine ever captured me, he could torture their memories out of me, just like he tortured Dot."

"Tortured," Clary repeated. "Wait, is Dot okay?"

Magnus looked at Clary with slight surprise. "You don't know?" When Clary didn't answer, he continued. "Dot is dead."

My jaw dropped. "What?" Clary's eyes were huge and I touched her shoulder. "How do you know?"

"I can't feel her magic, anymore." He told her.

"I'm sorry, Clary." It was sad that she'd lost one of the few people left from her old life.

"Valentine killed her because she would not betray your mother." He revealed. "Come with me, Clary, Adrienne. My lair can offer the two of you protection no Shadowhunter ever could."

Jace scoffed and Clary ripped her hand out of Magnus'. "No. No, I'm not going anywhere with you."

"Don't be a fool, your mother would want you to live. Adrienne knows what will happen if the two of you stay together, doesn't she?" Magnus looked at me with an intense stare and I dropped my eyes to the floor, remembering the things Hodge had told me.

Clary and Jace both looked at me. Clary asked me, "What does he mean by that?"

I close my eyes in defeat. "Shadowhunter twins are easier to track when they're together. I think that's why our mother split us up; so Valentine couldn't find us."

Jace closed his own eyes. "Dammit."

Clary shook her head. "Help me get my memories back from whatever demon you gave them to. I would have already known that if I had them."

Magnus wouldn't budge. "Valentine is hunting you, too, and every moment we're outside my lair's protection is a moment Valentine gets closer to finding us." Magnus turned around and created a shimmering portal before offering each of us his hand. "Come with me."

Jace shook his head no and Clary hesitated. Magnus looked impatient. "I won't offer again." Clary still didn't do anything, but I did. Reaching out, I grabbed Magnus' hand and stepped toward the portal with him. Looking back I saw Jace's eyes were wide and Clary's mouth hung open. They both looked at me like I was crazy. "Trust me," I told them.

Clary shook her head at the both of us. "No, no I won't hide from my problems and neither should you."

Then someone yelled, "Look out!" We ducked and suddenly there was a man with an arrow in his chest on the floor. Alec walked by us to inspect it and I realized that I didn't notice he and Izzy weren't around until now.

I saw Magnus watch Alec walk by and I heard him ask, suddenly very intrigued, "Who are you?" Then, he thought better of sticking around and grabbed my wrist, pulling me toward the portal.

"Magnus, wait!" Clary yelled to him before we went through. "You're my only hope."

"Valentine found us." He said in a grave voice. "I warned your mother this might happen."

Before Clary or I could say anything else, Magnus disappeared through the portal, taking me with him. For a few seconds, all I could see was purple shimmering light, and then we landed.

We landed in what I assume was his loft, and we were the only ones here. "You know she's not going to let it, go. Neither am I, as a matter-of-fact. Our mother had no right to tell you to take our memories, and you had no right taking them."

Magnus put his hand on my arm. "Look, your mom was doing the only thing she thought she could do to protect her eight-year-old daughters at the time. She knew you'd ask questions, she knew the two of you being to together would make it easier to track you if Valentine were to ever get ahold of something that meant anything to you. At first, her plan was to raise you both as mundanes, but when she realized that they would come for her one day, she knew she had to split you up and somehow make sure that you'd know what to do. So, she left you under the care of the Lightwoods and she raised Clary as a mundane to make sure that if one day something were to happen to her, you would be able to teach and train her, and you could protect each other."

I gaped at him. That was so stupid, she could have raised us together as Shadowhunters and we would have been able to protect each other, all the same. "How was she sure that we'd meet if neither of us knew the other existed?"

"Well, Jocelyn had friends, people who would make sure that the two of you would find each other," Magnus explained, a gleam in his eye.

"You're not one of them, are you?" He shook his head. "Who was?"

"Well, she did have a friend who was a warlock, one who made sure that if they ever found her, there'd be no way for her to reveal the location of the Cup or the two of you."

It hit me. "Dot," I remembered the potion she gave Jocelyn the night they came for her when she pushed Clary through the portal.

He nodded in affirmation. Before he could say anything else, a Shadowhunter came into the room holding a seraph blade. Magnus acted quickly, using magic to knock over a bookcase but the man avoided it. "Your magic is strong, warlock, much stronger than that horned weakling I killed this morning."

Magnus was taken aback. "Elias," he whispered the name. He sent sparks flying toward the Shadowhunter but he dodged it again.

"So, that was his name," the Shadowhunter looked smug, "lucky for us he sold you out before I took his warlock mark."

Magnus made another attempt to hit him with magic but the guy blocked it with the seraph blade. Magnus let his own mark show. "Cat's eyes," the Shadowhunter taunted him, "be a nice addition to my collection." I pulled out my dagger to end this idiot but someone else beat me to it.

An arrow flew across the room and buried itself in the guy's leg before I took the opportunity to kill him with my daggers. I looked behind us and Alec was standing there with his bow in hand, lowering it after seeing the guy was dead. "Well done." He complimented me, and I smiled.

Magnus shrugged. "More like medium-rare." He joked before turning around to see who was standing there, his facial expression changing to one of interest. "I'm Magnus, I don't think we've been formally introduced."

Alec glanced at me nervously before meeting the warlock' eyes and letting an adorable, rarely-seen smile grace his features. "Alec," he replied and I smirked at his sudden change in attitude.

Magnus smiled coyly and I started to feel slightly uncomfortable. "Well, we should probably get going." I pointed out and Magnus nodded in reluctance.

"Right, we should probably join the party." He agreed and Alec nodded, the stupid smile still on his face. I chuckled a bit as I followed them out of the room. We made it to a living room and the injured warlocks were getting patched up. Clary walked into the room, then, with a little girl.

"Magnus," she got his attention and he turned around, grateful to see the little girl again. He hugged her tightly.

"Go join the others, my dear. This is no place for a little girl, go." He shooed her off. Then turned to Clary. "I heard what you did for Zoe. You risked your life without hesitation to save a young warlock child."

Clary sighed and looked him in the eye. "She was just a girl and she was in trouble, I had no choice."

"You always have a choice, "Magnus looked into her eyes intensely. "You're not like the others, Clary Fairchild. Most Shadowhunters protect Downworlders out of a sense of duty, but you saved young Zoe because of what was in your heart. You're more like your mother than you will ever know."

"Does that mean you will help us?" I asked the warlock who merely glanced at me before looking back at Clary.

"Magnus, please, "Clary begged, "you can't hide from this battle. Look, Valentine, he found you once and he'll find you again. We need to work together. Help us." She gestured to the both of us.

Magnus looked back and forth between us with a pained expression before he gave in. "I can summon the demon but one of you must make the demand. Now, I warn you, retrieving your memories will not be easy."

Clary didn't blink. "I will do what I have to." Magnus glanced at me, then, and I nodded in agreement.

"Alright, but we're not safe here. The lair's location has been compromised." Magnus stepped back from Clary. "Hold tight, everyone, we're about to move." He held out his hands, his fingertips glowing a radiant blue and then waved them just so. Everyone felt a jolt and when I looked out the window, the world was a blur as the building moved at lightning speed.

When everything stopped and we were all steady, Magnus looked quite pleased with himself. "Ah, much better." He turned around to face all of us. "Well, it's inevitable. After each move, I get the itch to redecorate." His gaze zeroed in on just Alec who glanced back at him as he spoke. "Normally, I love a dirty lair but this one is just sloppy." He said pointedly.

Alec's eyes shifted away and he furrowed his brown in confusion. When he walked away I saw the expression on Magnus's face and had to cover my mouth with my hand to hide a snicker. Then, Magnus turned his gaze to Izzy who was standing right next to him. "I believe in payment for services rendered." When Magnus took out the ruby necklace, Izzy's eyes went wide. "Thank you for defending the warlocks."

Izzy gave a sheepish smile. "I couldn't."

"Oh, but you could." He swung the necklace around her neck and walked behind her to clasp it. "And you should. The Lightwoods have been wearing this necklace for years. Besides, it would look silly on your brother." Izzy smiled at that and touched the jewel. Then his voice got slightly lower but I was still standing close enough to hear him. "About, Alec, is he more of a flower or a cologne man?" Izzy just gave a small, knowing laugh.

Clary stood up, impatient. "Okay, so how do we summon the memory demon?"

"Are you certain?" Magnus gave Clary a dangerous look. "Summoning such a powerful demon could be lethal."

"We'll do anything to save her," I answered him for her. "Where is the demon?"

"Okay," Magnus gave us a half smile and waved a hand. "Pretty Boy, get your team ready."

Jace started to walk toward me and Clary but Magnus held out his arm, stopping him in his tracks. "I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to you." He pointed at Alec and when Jace looked at Alec in confusion, he simply shrugged innocently.

I smiled and shook my head. Magnus led me and Clary to a different room with no furniture. "Everyone wants the Mortal Cup. Don't trust anyone, especially not the Clave."

"Then why should we trust you?" Clary asked the warlock.

"You shouldn't; Only trust yourself." He gave Clary the chalks for the pentagram and she studied them in admiration.

"They're beautiful. What are they for?"

"If a person wants to summon a memory demon, they have to draw the pentagram for it," I told her. Magnus agreed, nodding at me.

"Prepare her as best you can, Adrienne." He left us then.

"Do you want some help with this?" I gestured toward the pentagram drawing and she shook her head.

"I got this."

"Okay." I took out my stele. "The memory demon is a Greater Demon. The rune will be far more powerful than anything you've faced so far."

Clary contemplated that for a moment. "Do it."

I nodded, my face holding a pained expression. "This might sting." She turned slightly so I could place the rune on her back. I heard the sound of her flesh burning under the power and then she started to scream in pain. I felt awful but I kept going, knowing that she needed these runes and it was just better to get it over with so she would always have them.

When the runes were done, I left her to draw the pentagram and it had only been about a half an hour before we walked back in to see the most beautifully drawn pentagram I'd ever seen.

"Jocelyn was right," Magnus mused, "your artistry is beyond compare."

Clary stood up to admire her work. "I don't know about that."

"Oh, the only other person I've known who could draw as well was Michelangelo, who was excellent in bed, I might add." Magnus gave not-so-subtle hint to Alec when he glanced over at him. Izzy laughed and, again, Alec just shrugged innocently.

"Okay, we're ready." Magnus rolled up his sleeves, gesturing to the pentagram. "Everyone take their rightful places on the pentagram." Everyone except me stood on a point of the star. I leaned back and watched what happened. "We must initiate a bond. Once this bond is sealed, it cannot be broken until the demon retreats. No matter what happens, we must not let go of each others' hands."

Clary looked at me. "Don't you want your memories back to?"

I shook my head. "I know who I am right now, Clary. The demon will require payment for your memories, and he would require payment for mine, too. We're only doing this to save our mother, and right now the main priority is that you have your memories."

She nodded and turned back to the circle. Magnus held out his hand to Alec and he took it, and I saw Alec jump as the energy thrust through each of the points. One by one, everyone took hands and when it got to Izzy, she rolled her eyes at the everyone's dramatic expressions. "You people are pathetic." She closed the circle.

"I will lead the ceremony and you all must do exactly as I say. The demon's name is Valak and, yes, at some point he will require payment for Clary's memories."

Jace looked suspicious. "What kind of payment?"

Magnus spoke with an expression that said there was no going back now. "We will see. Let us begin." Magnus spoke in Chthonian to draw the demon out. We all felt the sense of energy in the room and the enchanted jewel started to glow.

"The necklace," Izzy warned, "it's pulsing."

What looked like a black tornado of smoke grew in the pentagram. The wind whipped around our faces and demon screamed and moaned.

"Valak is among us!" Magnus shouted over the wind. "Do not break the bond!"

"Hold on!" Jace yelled to Clary, looking at their joined hands.

Clary was so light that she was moved by the wind. "I'm trying!"

"It is time," Magnus announced. "The demon demands payment!"

"What does it want?" Alec squinted his eyes to see.

"We all must relinquish a beloved memory of the one we love the most!"

Izzy was the first. The memory the demon took shone like it was on a projector. It was of Alec.

Clary was next. The memory was of Jocelyn, her bright smile lighting up her face,

Then went Alec. The memory was of Jace. I winced at it, it probably wasn't what he wanted them all to see.

Jace looked confused and he turned to Alec. Alec shook his head in defiance. "No, it's not true! The demon deceived me!"

"Do not break the bond!" Magnus yelled.

I ran to stand behind him. "Alec, it's okay!" I shouted, but he didn't care.

"No!" Alec ripped apart their hands and I heard the power surge break before the energy in the room became uncontrolled. Alec was thrown back and he fell into me, I barely caught him.

"Alec!" Jace screamed. Then everyone was thrown away from it. Magnus tried to hold it with his own magic, but he was weak.

"I cannot contain the demon much longer!"

Alec went to try to grab it, but I knocked him out of the way before he could. The demon grabbed me, then. Its hold was tight, and I could move, all I could do was scream for help. I felt pain in my shoulder, a searing, burning pain.

I heard Clary scream and then Izzy was in front of me, trying to grab my hand. She got a hold of it and tried to pull me away, but the demon was too strong. "Addi!"

Izzy looked at Alec who was standing there, stunned. "Grab her, grab her!"

Alec ran over to me, taking my other hand. "Hold on!"

Magnus was still trying to hold on. "The demon is growing stronger!"

"She's slipping!" Alec exclaimed.

Izzy was panicking. "Jace, Clary, help us!"

Jace didn't have seraph blade on him then, but Clary did. She held it and as it glowed in her hand she looked at the demon with determination. She marched over to us with the blade.

"Clary," Magnus tried to warn her, "if you kill the demon, your memories will be lost forever!"

She stopped and contemplated before Izzy screamed, "Help us!"

She didn't think anymore. She stabbed the demon with the Seraph blade, and I felt myself be dropped to the ground when it disintegrated. It was silent for a moment, and I was so close to being passed out. My shoulder stopped burning but it felt a different kind of warm and I knew that I was bleeding.

Alec moved my hair out of my face and Izzy put her hand on my neck, probably feeling for a pulse. "Addi, Oh my Gosh, Addi." Clary murmured.

"Addi, get up." Alec was talking to me, but I didn't want to move.

Clary talked louder now. "Is she gonna be alright?"

I heard Magnus then. "I don't know. Does she normally just lay like that without moving?"

"Get up. Adrienne." Alec was still shaking my good arm.

"Her shoulder," Izzy said and I suddenly felt the familiar burn of the healing rune on my waist.

"Adrienne," Alec said again.

The rune stopped burning and I could feel my shoulder healing, but I hadn't realized that I couldn't breathe. I gasped and sputtered, my eyes wide open and looking around at everyone.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." I tried to reassure them, still catching my breath. "I'm okay."

"Thank God, you're okay," Jace said, grabbing my arm.

Clary rubbed my back. "For a second, I thought we'd lost you."

I gave her a small smile, still trying to breathe. "I'm not leaving that easily. You're stuck with me, sister."

I was fine by the time that we got back to the Institute, and an hour later, I went to check on Clary to see how she was handling everything. When I walked to her open door, she was looking through he sketched book. I reach up and knocked lightly on the doorframe, smiling when she saw me.

"Hey." I greeted her,

She let out a breath. "Hey. How are you feeling?"

I shrugged with a smirk. "I'm good, I've been through a lot worse. I actually came to see how you were doing."

She shook her head and looked back down at her sketches. "I'm fine."

"Can I come in?"

"Yeah," she said without totally looking at me.

I went to sit down next to her. "You know, that move you did, launching into that tornado? That was pretty impressive." I complimented her. "You saved me."

"I didn't know what I was doing, I just acted. You got hurt because of me. If we hadn't summoned that demon or if I had just moved faster..." She started but I interrupted her.

I held out a hand to silence her. "Stop. Clary, we are Shadowhunters. This is the kind of stuff that is required in our line of work. You aren't the only one who's ever messed up. A couple of months ago, we went looking for a demon on the other side of New York City. The plan was that Izzy distracted them and Alec and I went to kill them when they weren't paying attention. I ended up getting hurt that night because Alec had to protect Izzy when the demon took her whip. Things happen." I paused and grinned. "But you, you killed a Greater Demon. Not a lot of Shadowhunters who can make that claim."

"Yeah, but in killing that demon, I lost both of our memories forever." She looked dejected.

"Yeah... But you saved me."

She half-smiled at me and then her expression went back to hopeless. "We're never gonna find our mother, are we?"

"Yes, Clary." I placed my hand on her shoulder in support. "We'll find her. I promise." I stood up from her bed, suddenly feeling tired from the night's events. "Get some sleep, okay." I smiled at her without another word. Following my own advice, I went to my own room and lay down. I thought about everything that happened today and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

* * *

Disclaimer- I do not own any of the original characters or storylines in this story. Those belong to Cassandra Claire and the writers of Shadowhunters. I only own my own characters and ideas.

Okay, that's all for this one. I hope you all enjoyed the chapter and as always I'd appreciate it if you could favorite and review, telling me how you felt about everything. Thanks for reading and until next time!

-Red


	5. Chapter 5

I was in the main room runing my daggers when Alec walked in followed by Jace and Clary and they looked like they were arguing about something. I slid my stele into my boot and stuck the daggers into my hip holsters before I walked over to see what was the matter.

"Where are you going?" Clary was asking Alec who was holding something in his hand.

"To put this somewhere safe. Where no one could be tempted to use it." Alec walked toward the retractable tile on the floor.

Clary scoffed at him and Jace reached for his arm to slow him down. "We should use it. Alec, we should use it to get to Valentine."

"If I were Valentine, I'd make you think that you could rescue Jocelyn, and then I'd lure Clary to me and leverage her life for the Cup." He activated the tile on the floor and the shelf we used to hide valuable objects came out of the floor.

I decided to join their conversation at that point. "Well, looks like you have it all figured out, Alec." I chuckled. They looked at me and while Jace and Clary looked hopeful, probably for me to help them, Alec looked concerned and slightly guilty. I tilted my head in confusion at his expression but then decided he'd tell me eventually. "What are we arguing about?"

"Alec took the necklace our mom gave me because he's afraid I'll use it and Valentine will find us," Clary said, almost childishly, and crossed her arms.

"How would he do that?" I asked her, slightly confused.

"I saw my mother and Valentine. She's alive but she's with him and it was like he knew I was there... He looked at me, he spoke to me. He said that if I wanted my mom then I had to give him the Cup." She explained.

It was weird to hear, and before I could say anything, she grabbed my wrist and I was sucked in.

 _I saw him, my father. He stood over Jocelyn who looked like she was being protected by the familiar purple glow of a warlock's magic. He was standing over her and I couldn't decide whether it looked sweet and vulnerable or malicious and creepy. Then he spoke, still looking at my mother._

 _"Nice to see you, Clary." He'd said and looked up, directly into my eyes. I could see his face twist and screw into a sinister expression. "You want your mother? Give me the Cup!"_

I snapped out of it with a gasp and suddenly understood.

I sighed, looking at Alec for a moment and contemplating my decision. Then, reluctantly, I unclasped the bracelet from my wrist and handed that to him, too. He let out a small breath of relief. "Thank you."

"What?" Jace asked in disbelief. "Why are you agreeing to this?"

"Because he's right." I stared at Jace. "If we touch those and think about someone, we can see where they are and what they're doing. Valentine somehow knows we're there when that happens. It's not so far-fetched to think that he could figure out what we're doing and get a purple rock of his own. We don't need to make this any easier for him than it already is with us being together." I gestured to her and me.

"Look, I like Jace's idea. We saved Simon from the vampires that way." She tried to persuade Alec, but I knew him. He wouldn't budge if he thought the Institute was at risk.

"Speaking of, has anyone heard from Simon?" I was getting worried about the mundane. We hadn't seen him since he left a couple days ago.

Clary glanced at me. "He called me and left a message but when I tried to call him back he didn't answer. His number is in your phone, try him again."

Alec hadn't missed a beat. "Yeah, vampires. Bored, decadent, self-involved vampires." Alec put her necklace and my bracelet on the shelf before he stood back up to tower over her. "He can't be handled by four-and-a-half Shadowhunters."

"Five." Clary insisted.

"Whatever." Alec retorted. "Leave it there."

I rolled my eyes and started to walk away. I got to the bottom of the steps outside the training room before Alec caught up with me. "Hey."

I raised my brows at him. "Hey."

He rubbed the back of his neck nervously and I noticed that the guilty look was back. "So, how are you feeling? You know, since yesterday."

I chuckled awkwardly. "Um, I'm fine. My shoulder wasn't that bad and an Iratze rune works the same on me as it does on you guys."

"I know, it's just," he ran his hand through his hair, "I feel like it was my fault that you got hurt because I broke the bond after Magnus said not to. I just couldn't deal with what the memory demon showed everyone about me..."

I stepped in front of Alec and rested my hand on his shoulder. "It's not your fault. What is it with everyone around me trying to be a martyr? We are Shadowhunters. Things happen, and I'm fine. Relax, none of what happened yesterday matters now." I looked into the Lightwood's eyes to show him that I meant it. He stared back at me for a second before taking a deep breath and nodding. I smiled at him and patted his shoulder before walking away from him.

A few minutes later I saw Izzy in the hallway. She was wearing an open-front black dress with a very pretty black and grey bra underneath. Classic Iz. I smiled as she walked toward me. "Hey, Iz." I walked with her down the other hallway.

"Hey, I was looking for Clary. I heard what happened with Alec." I nodded and we rounded the corner to see Clary sitting on a bench by herself.

"There you are." Izzy greeted her. "Are you okay?"

She just shrugged and looked at her hands again. "I saw my mom. Then, your brother-"

"I heard." Izzy interrupted her, nodding. "Believe me, there have been plenty of times when I've wanted to kill Alec." Izzy sighed, sitting down next to her and I leaned against the wall by Izzy, crossing my arms. "Look, I know my brother can be a real pain in the ass, but he means well. That necklace is very dangerous."

"I'll take the risk on my own." I could tell that Clary was frustrated.

"The problem is that you're not on your own anymore, Clary. You're part of us, now." I said to her, meaning it.

She sighed. "I just, I wish I knew what to do. All of this is so new to me." She looked at Izzy now. "I'll do anything to save her."

Izzy nodded, a small smile on her face. "I get it. You love her."

"More than anything," Clary replied.

"What's our mom like?" I asked, genuinely curious. All I knew about the woman was her name, what she looked like and that she was fiercely protective of us. I didn't know anything personal about her, though.

Clary looked at me wistfully. "You would have loved her, Addi. She's kind, fun. The kind of person you always want to be around." She looked away from us, but I still managed to that she had eighteen years of memories with her in her eyes. It made me jealous. "I have friends who used to always want to hang out at our house just to hang out with her."

Izzy chuckled with her. "She sounds more like a friend than a mom."

"She's both." Clary nodded her head. "She's basically sacrificed her life for me, for us, and I'm willing to do the same for her." Clary glanced at me questioningly.

I gave her a half-smile. "I didn't grow up with her, but I am going to save her. I want a chance to know the mother who did everything to protect us, even if it caused her pain."

Izzy touched Clary's shoulder. "Clary, just because you can't have that necklace, doesn't mean you won't see her again."

I reached out my hand for her to take and she did, standing up beside me. Izzy followed suit. "Walk with us, tell us everything about her."

She did. Everything from mother-daughter bonding sessions to awful teenage grounding stories, until it came full circle right back to Alec and how mad she was that he took her necklace.

We eventually all made it to the main room. Izzy was getting the story straight since she was the only one who wasn't there. "So, Alec blew right by you and did what he wanted. I'd be angry, too."

"He took the only way I had to see my mother. Plus, he kept asking what Valentine's room looks like."

Izzy laughed. "He was interested in Valentine's style. Fascinating."

Clary shook her head. "No, he thought I might have seen something that could help us find him."

"And did you?" Izzy asked.

She shook her head again, looking at me. "No, I didn't see anything there, but I think I might know another way."

Then, the door at the end of the main hall opened to a portal and in walked the only woman on the face of the planet whom I'd be scared to piss off. Maryse Lightwood.

She walked toward us with authority, her hair was in a ponytail as slicked back as her attitude and immediately started to critique Izzy.

"Isabelle. Dressed to impress, I see, and you've been playing with the family heirlooms." Then her eyes caught mine and I was surprised to see that she had no reaction to Clary being there like she was trying to ignore her. "Adrienne, looking lovely. I heard that you were hurt, yesterday. Are you alright?"

I had to refrain from rolling my eyes at yet another comment about my now non-existent shoulder injury and I just nodded my head with a smile. "Yes, I'm okay. Good to see you, Mrs. Lightwood."

"Maryse, Dear. We've been over this." She corrected me and I nodded again. Then, I turned to Clary.

"Maryse, this is my twin sister."

"Hi. I'm Clary Fray." She introduced herself and barely finished before Maryse corrected her.

"Clary Fairchild. You and Adrienne share the same face and the same last name, you also both bear a striking resemblance to Jocelyn." She took a sharp breath. "We know all about you in Idris."

"Idris?"

"The Shadowhunter homeland," I answered her.

Izzy commented, "If you think the Institute is well-hidden, wait until you see that place." She turned back to her mother. "How's Max? We all miss him."

I smiled slightly at the memory of our littlest Shadowhunter. "Little Lightwood brother. Cute, but clingy. Kinda Simon-ish." I informed Clary so she was up to date.

"Robert's picking him up at the Mumbai Institute." She sounded bored with the conversation. "Where's Jace? We have a situation that has to be handled now." She didn't wait for an answer before she barged her way through us and went in search of the blonde Shadowhunter.

Izzy sighed in exhaustion before turning to Clary. "Well, that's my mom." We all gave each other a look before we followed her.

She stood outside of the training room watching Jace when we came to stand behind her. She watched him admirably and I felt the same pang to my heart that always seemed to happen when I saw Izzy look longingly at her mother for the same kind of pride.

"Is your mom always like that?" Clary asked, looking at the woman. "She didn't even hug you."

"Shadowhunters aren't big huggers." Izzy tried to assure her. When Jace got the chance, he looked over and noticed Maryse watching him.

"Maryse" he panted standing up. She walked toward him with open arms and he wrapped her in a big, seemingly long-awaited hug. I saw Izzy's face fall and I suddenly felt angry with Maryse. "How's everyone in Indris? Where's Max?"

"No Max," Izzy answered, as we walked forward to meet them, "just Mom with her hair on fire."

"I love how Shadowhunters share," Clary said sarcastically, throwing a pointed look at Jace, "a hidden brother and a secret country, and a private portal?"

Alec walked up to us before Jace could answer and greeted Maryse. "Mother, welcome back. We didn't expect you." They hugged briefly before she started in on him.

"You should be prepared, whether you expected me or not."

Alec took a militant stance and answered. "I am. We are."

"We'll talk the about the Institute later, right now we have a bigger problem." She said, not missing a beat and circling around us. "The Seelies have stopped communicating with the Clave and won't explain why. My guess is they're still upset we asked them to send scouts to look for Valentine, but no one in their realm will talk.

"I have Seelie friends." Izzy offered in a slight voice.

"Yes, I know about your friends." She looked down at us. "Isabelle, we stay seperate from the Downworld for good reasons. The wrong move, the wrong word, do you think there's such a thing as harmless rebellion? Who knows what offends these creatures? Maybe you told him something he shouldn't know. Maybe you trod on one of their ridiculous customs without knowing it."

"Wait, wait," Jace interjected, then. "You're laying all this on Izzy because she has friends in the Downworld?"

"When someone upsets the natural order, everything falls apart." She replied, no emotion showing on her face.

"Natural order? What are you saying?" Clary questioned.

"I can help," Izzy insisted. "I know how to talk to Seelies."

" She's right, she can visit with Meliorn and see what he knows. I can go with her if you want." Alec offered.

"I'd rather Jace goes along this time." She turned to Clary then. "Alec, Adrienne, you stay with the other Fairchild girl. I want her under control, she's caused enough trouble already."

Clary defended herself. "Maybe that's because I wasn't even a Shadowhunter until a few days ago!"

"And what an exciting few days it has been," Maryse said, looking at her with a mixture of emotions on her face, not many of them good. "The Clave counts on us Lightwoods to maintain order here."

"You don't need to tell me that." Alec glanced at Izzy. "If the mission is important to the Clave I would prefer to be the one to go with Isabelle."

Maryse shook her head and chuckled in exasperation. "You are all so eager to do what you what you would prefer, it's time to face the truth. Life is not about what you want to do, it's about what must be done. I have given you your assignments, now carry them out. You, and you, with me. Now." She ordered, pointing at Jace and Izzy. I glanced at Clary and Alec before Izzy and Jace followed Maryse out of the room.

"Well, that was a window into the weird. What did you do to piss off your mom?" Clary asked, looking at Alec.

He turned to her, glaring at her. "I'd guess, for a start, all the unsanctioned missions on your behalf didn't go over that well with the Clave." He glanced at me once before walking away. I sighed. Alec was never going to get along with Clary.

"Look, I know he seems harsh right now, but he has a heart of gold. He has about a thousand percent more pressure put on him to be the perfect, dutiful soldier when his mom is in town." I tried to explain, walking toward the training floor with her. "Not only that, but he's not totally wrong about the Clave being angry about all of the unapproved missions."

"What was I supposed to do, let Simon get killed by vampires?" She asked in disbelief.

I shook my head. "No, I didn't expect you to do that and they didn't, either. He is who he is, Clary. In his mind, the love he gets from Maryse is based on whether or not he's a good enough Shadowhunter to earn it. Problem is, he and Isabelle are two of the best I've ever seen, and she is always like that. She never changes. She puts them on too high of a pedestal, and they try so hard to reach her impossible expectations, but she never lets up."

I threw her a staff so we could train. I swung at her from the left and she tried to block me. "It must be awful to have parents like that." She remarked, stepping back.

I tilted my head to the side and circled around her. "She's tough on them, but no matter how hard the exterior, she'd give her life for them. She'd give her life for any one of us."

Clary twirled her staff in her hand. "Anyone of you."

"Look, all that stuff she said about you causing trouble? It's because she doesn't know you yet. In her mind, you're tainted because you were raised as a mundane, but you have to show her that you have just as much a right to be here as we do. You're a Shadowhunter, just like me."

"That may be so," Alec said, joining our conversating and picking up his own staff, "but she's still a pain in the ass."

"Well, it looks like we're stuck with each other. For what it's worth, I think your mom was too tough on you out there." She told him.

"Mother's are like that." He replied shortly.

"Mine's not." Alec took his training stance, and Clary gave him a half-smile. "Go ahead, knock me on my ass, you'll feel better."

"Don't make me say you're right about something. Plant your feet wide." He ordered. She did as he said and I stood back, studying her offense and defense.

"Why did you guys let your mom say all those awful things about Izzy?" She asked. He swung his staff and she blocked it.

"Don't step into the strike, step through it." I reminded her, gesturing how. Alec nodded to me once and then answered her.

"Izzy was out of bounds. The Law is hard, but it's the Law. Even I forget that sometimes."

"So you're just gonna let her send Jace out instead of you?" She asked, her tone just a hint antagonizing.

"Sometimes it's better not to fight her, Clary. Pick your battles." I commented. "She wasn't sending Jace because she didn't think Alec could do it, she just didn't want him to. It's like a kid getting grounded for going out past his curfew." Two more swings from him, and he held her block.

"If I screw up, I expect to be punished. I'm supposed to be a leader."

"You know what a leader does, Alec?" She asked, not needing an answer. "Makes decisions. You need to find Valentine and stop him. I need to find Valentine and help save my mother." Suddenly, she gave four quick swings, all of which he blocked. When he went to swing back, he blocked her staff and twisted it to pin to the ground. She kicked his staff out of his hands and then tried to hit him from his other side, but he grabbed her staff when she tried to kick and flipped her over and onto her back.

"You need to work on your defense." He commented, helping her up and then walking to stand next to me. "What do you think? You think we haven't been trying to find your mother?"

"Of course you have. I know you can color outside of the lines, you're just not letting yourselves think that way." He handed her staff back to her.

"Oh yeah?" Alec raised his brow. "What's the big thought I'm not thinking?"

"We can still find Valentine, I might know a way." She sighed. "My mother hid a lot from me, but I did see one thing. There's a box. She didn't think I knew about it, but she opened it once and a year and cried."

"'Cause?" Alec asked, curious.

"It belonged to our father." I narrowed my eyes. "It had his initials, JC, on top."

"But your father's Valentine, why JC?"

"For 18 years she told me his name was Jonathan Clarke. That was a lie, but whatever was in that box meant a lot to her. Maybe there's something inside that could help us track him." She looked at us with hope on her face.

"Where can we find the box?" I asked.

"I think it's still back at the loft." She smiled. "Let's go get it."

Alec's phone started to ring. "Absolutely not, not without permission." Clary just scoffed at him and he gestured to give him a second while he took the call and then walked away. I quickly activated my hearing rune to see what was so important.

"Hello? Who is this?" He answered.

When I heard the warlock's voice, I couldn't help but smile for Alec. "Alexander, hi. It's Magnus. We met the other day, with the demon?" I didn't listen to any more of that conversation, figuring that if it was business he'd tell me when he needed to and if it was personal, he'd tell me when he was ready to.

I turned around to see Clary trying to sneakily set down her staff and I instantly knew what she was doing, because there was a good chance that I would have done it, too. "Oh no," I said in a low voice, trying not to let Alec hear what was going on, "you are not doing this to him right now."

"Look, I know that if we find that box, it would help us get to Valentine. I promise that I'll be back in fifteen minutes and then he'll be glad I did it." She tried to reason, but I shook my head.

"Absolutely not. Clary, listen to me. I just told you how hard it was for Alec to get Maryse's approval, and the one job she gave him today was to make sure that you stayed put, here and out of trouble. You are not going to get him into more trouble. It was his one order."

"Adrienne, we need that box." She pleaded.

I nodded, putting my hands on her arms. "I know, that's why I'm going to go get it."

Her eyes widened. "Really? Wait, you just said you didn't want Alec to get in any more trouble." She said, confused.

I shook my head. "Alec's job was to babysit you, not me. If I get in trouble, it falls on me. If you get into trouble, it falls on Alec. I'm going to grab my daggers and my bag for the box and I'm going to be back in ten minutes tops. I will be fine, trust me."

She nodded and I could see the whole thing playing out in her eyes. "Wait, how will you know where to go?"

I thought about it for a minute. "Simon, I'll call him to show me. You said you put his number in my phone, right?"

She nodded, and then I smiled. "Okay, if Alec asks, tell him the truth. Don't lie to him. He can call me to see if I'm okay, but I'll be fine. I'll be back." Without another word, I ran as silently as I could before Alec turned around. Grabbing my jacket, weapons, and satchel, I made my way out the doors without anyone seeing me and activated my invisibility rune before running to the main street.

I pulled out my phone and dialed his number. The phone only rang once before he answered, which was both odd and relieving. "Hello?"

"Hey, Simon, it's Addi. I need your help."

"That is so weird, I was literally just getting ready to call Clary, I've kind of been waiting for her to call me back."

I furrowed my brows. "Is everything okay?"

"Well, you know that thing when you think you're catching a cold but you never actually get sick?"

I tilted my head in confusion. "No?"

"Oh, well, never mind, then. What's up?"

I sighed. "So, long story short, Clary killed the demon that was holding all of her memories, so now she can't get them back, like, ever."

"Killed a what? Okay, where is she?"

"Simon, trust me, she's okay. She held her own, but I need to get something from her loft in order to help her find Jocelyn, but I kind of need you to show me where it is."

"Um, are you crazy? That's way too dangerous. You think no one's watching that place?"

I smiled to myself. "I'm sure there's someone watching that place, which is why I came instead of Clary. I can take care of myself."

"Those words are supposed to make me feel better, how?" I could only smile wider. "Yeah, okay, I'm coming to help."

"Awesome, I'm at the corner of Park and Main, meet me." He agreed and then I hung up the phone.

Suddenly, it rang again and I grimaced before answering it. "Hey, buddy, how's it going?"

"Don't give me that crap, Adrienne. Get back to the Institute. Now." Oh, crap. He used my full name. I'm in trouble.

"Okay, Alec, listen. I think Clary might be on the right track with whatever is in this box. I figured it would be a better idea than Clary going to find it. I can defend myself and Maryse didn't order you to babysit me."

"How is it that you getting in trouble is any better than me getting in trouble? You don't think she'll find a way to blame you leaving on me. I'm supposed to be in charge."

"Alec, I need you to trust me right now, okay? Me leaving isn't going to be anyone's fault because nothing bad is going to happen. I'll be in and out so quickly no one will know I was ever gone, besides you, of course."

"I don't like this-"

I didn't let him finish. "I will be fine. Trust me." I hung up the phone, guessing it better to ask for forgiveness after I'd already done what I needed to do than for permission to go through with it.

Not two minutes later, I saw Simon walking toward me and then leaned against the street sign, looking around, his eyes sliding right past me. I face-palmed and made sure no one else was looking before I made myself visible. It evidently scared the crap out of him because he stood up straighter and put his hands on his hips when he saw me.

"Hey, stranger." I greeted him with a smile.

"Addi." He smiled widely back at me, walking closer so we could talk. "Hey."

We stood there for a second before it became awkward and then I held my hand out. "Lead the way."

He nodded quickly and started off. "Okay, it's just down the road and across the alley."

"Over the river and through the woods," I muttered, earning a laugh from him. "Just be careful, there could be Circle Members everywhere."

"No, I guarantee you, no one will find this shortcut. I used to take it back in middle school to see Clary." I raised my eyebrows at his sudden confidence and he grinned before speaking again. "You guys might know the Shadow World, but trust me, I know Brooklyn. Come on."

I let it go, then. "Alright, lead on, Wayward Simon."

When I thought he was going to walk around the corner, Simon ran toward the Ivy-covered cement wall and jumped, grabbing on to the top and swinging himself over. I couldn't help but wonder how this frail little mundane, who was clumsy and afraid of everything, could do that. Nevertheless, I followed him.

We walked through the opening and crossed the gravel alley before he jumped to grab the ladder of a fire escape and hoist himself up to stand on the metal ledge. "Have you been doing parkour or something?" I asked him in wonder. I followed after him on the metal staircase. "You're getting better at this," I commented, "not that climbing a fire escape is that exciting, but you didn't seem like the athletic type."

"I'm really not, but I feel really energized." He shrugged.

When we got to the door, I took in the wall around it. It was covered in runes and symbols. "These are runes and wards of protection cast by a warlock. Dot or Magnus... These look like they've been here for years." I thought aloud and ran my hand over an angelic rune.

"What are these tags?" Simon asked from a few feet away, pointing to a few on the opposite wall.

"You can see them?" I asked in disbelief.

He looked at me like I was crazy. "Yeah, kind of hard to miss."

"For a Shadowhunter. They should be invisible to most mundanes. You shouldn't be able to see them." I turned to him. "When did you get the Sight?"

"I don't know." He just shrugged, still studying them. "Whoever drew these should take some lessons from Clary, though. There work is pretty sloppy."

I chuckled and looked at something on the wall that wasn't a rune. "Are these your and Clary's initials in this heart?"

He smiled looking at it, and I saw nostalgia pass through his face. "Yeah, that's from when Clary and I were engaged to be married."

"You were engaged?" I shook my head and refocused. "As much as I'd love to hear this story, I have a job to do." I walked over to the door and tried to open it, but it was locked tight and wouldn't budge.

"Just one flaw in this plan." I stepped back and started to take out my stele for an unlocking rune.

"Here, let me try." He stepped in front of me.

I shook my head. "Well, it's locked, it probably won't-"

Before I could finish the sentence, Simon pulled on the doorknob so hard that it split the wood around it and came open with a swing. He looked at me triumphantly and gestured for me to go first. "After you."

I was stunned and I shook my head before walking in. "Okay."

The loft was a wasteland. Everything was scorched and I doubted that there was anything that could have been saved. I looked around at the blackened debris in awe.

"Holy crap, who torched Clary's loft?"

I picked a framed picture of a man in the military. It was the guy who Jocelyn portrayed as Clary's father. Or rather, as our father.

Simon put a hand on my shoulder. "You okay?"

"There's nothing left. I don't know what I thought I would find, maybe I was hoping to visualize the life I could have had..." I trailed off, setting the picture down. "I should have known there wouldn't be, Jocelyn was trying to erase any trace of Clary existing. She didn't want them to be able to track her or me. She was protecting us, now we wait to see how well it worked."

"Addi." I looked over to see Simon staring at the floor, shifting his weight. "The floor sounds different in these two spots. Can you hear it?" I could. He shifted again and bent down. "There's something under here." Simon tapped at the floorboards and then got a grip, managing to pull one up and giving a victorious grin. "Another score for Brooklyn."

"Hey, hang on." I grabbed his shoulder before he could stick his hand in the hole. "Let me."

I reach in and felt around before I got ahold of something and pulled it out. It was the box, with the initials. "Let's open it," Simon suggested.

When I did, I saw a few foreign objects. "I don't know what any of this is." Then, I saw something I did recognize. "Wait, Simon, look."

In my hand was the other half of the Polaroid picture of Clary. A baby that looked identical to her and I knew it was me. I pulled the half I'd originally had out of my jacket pocket and put the two together like puzzle pieces, their ripped edges fitting together perfectly. When I flipped the other half over, the back said August 29, 1998, A. I looked up and met Simon's eyes.

Before he or I could say anything, we heard something shatter, and it sounded close. "There's someone here. C'mon, we need to get what we came here for. We've been here too long, already."

I stuffed the box into my bag and the pictures in my pocket before I went to grab a blade from my waist holster, but I wasn't quick enough. Two men appeared and grabbed us. I tried to fight back, but the man took my blade and threw it across the room and I dropped my bag but before I could get it he grabbed us, dragging Simon and me out into the daylight before managing to cram us in a car. I stayed silent for the most part, trying to assess the situation we were in before saying or doing something stupid, and I think Simon was mostly just in shock.

When we stopped in front of the Jade Wolf by the docks, Simon found his voice. "Where are we? This isn't the police station."

"Just cooperate and everything will be fine." One of the men said, pulling us out of the car.

"We didn't do anything wrong, I don't understand why we would get arrested but not brought to the police station."

"Arrested. They're cops?" I whispered to Simon.

He nodded and whispered back. "Alaric is, he works with Luke, Clary's mom's best friend."

"Be quiet or you're gonna make this worse for yourself." Said the other man.

"Luke's calling," Alaric said.

The other one replied with authority in his voice. "Ignore it. That's an order."

"Are you guys with Luke?" I asked, but got no answer. "Did he send you?"

"None of your business." I was really starting to hate this guy.

When we got into the building, the guys pushed us to a table. Simon was panicking. "Why do I keep getting kidnapped?"

"Not to be self-centered but I think it's me they're after," I said, the tiniest bit of humor in my voice. "Alaric, did you arrest us for trespassing-"

"Clary, we're just having a little conversation, that's all."

I felt my eyes widen. When I looked at Simon for confirmation, he had the same expression. We both knew what it meant. He thought I was my sister. I took a second to think and decided not to correct him. If this guy was a circle member and he didn't already know about me, I would do my best to keep it that way. I shook my head at Simon, signaling for him to stay quiet about it.

Simon turned back to the man and tried to joke. "Do you always handcuff people you wanna talk to?" He directed his next comment to me. "I bet this guy has one of the scariest online profiles ever."

The guy smiled at Simon, but it wasn't kind. "This guy's funny. I like funny."

"Look I know you're scared of Luke," Alaric spoke quietly, only to me, "he's trying to find you and I can keep you safe. You just need to tell us where the Mortal Cup is."

I narrowed my eyes at the guy sitting in front of me. If Luke was Jocelyn's best friend, why would I be scared of him? I didn't believe him for a second about keeping me safe, and there was no way in hell I would tell him where the Cup was even if I did know.

"Everyone thinks I can find this Cup, but I don't know where it is." I tried to get him to believe me to no avail.

"Think, Clary. I'm trying to give you a chance." The way he said it made me want to throw up. Like, he was doing me a favor.

I was just getting angrier. "I can't help you, I'm sorry, now would you please let us go." The second the last word left my lips the guy sitting beside Alaric had stabbed a fork into the table right where my hands were. I barely had enough time to move them.

"Playtime's over," he said, sitting up straighter.

Alaric pleaded with the man. "Theo, just let me talk some sense into them."

"No, we did it your way, now we're gonna try it my way." When he said that, another guy grabbed Simon, dragging him a few feet away.

"You really shouldn't touch him," I said with venom in my voice.

"Don't move. Now, tell us where the Cup is or your funny friend dies."

This guy was pissing me off. "I don't know where this Cup is now, just like I didn't know where it was fifteen seconds ago when you asked the first time, and if you hurt Simon I can promise you are going to regret it."

"That's really too bad." He said and then looked at his guy. "Get rid of him."

I spun my head around "Simon!" The guy took behind some double doors at the back of the room. I couldn't do anything at the moment, but I was silently planning how I was going to kill Theo.

When he'd walked back out from wherever he was behind the doors. "Is Simon alive?"

"For now." He sauntered in front of me. "But if you don't tell us where the Cup is, we're gonna introduce Gretel, here, to your friends." He gestured next to me and when I turned my head, I saw a big white wolf standing not two feet away from me. Werewolves?

"Boy, you guys are just as dumb as you look." I looked up at Theo. "Do you speak English? Let me slow it down for you. I. Don't. Have. The. Cup. There, you understand it that time?" I knew I was losing my cool, but the longer I went not knowing where Simon was or, by the Angel, what was happening to him was just pissing me off more. "Introduce him to Gretel. You know what, why don't you take these cuffs off me so I can introduce myself to Gretel? Bet Gretel won't like me very much." The wolf bared her teeth and growled and I could feel my blood boiling.

"Oh, so she wants to be mouthy," Theo commented with a sarcastic laugh. Gretel snapped at me and he crouched down to be at my height. "It's like this, kid. Either you give us the Cup, or your friend is dog meat."

I hung my head down and closed my eyes, trying to think of a way out of this situation. Then I thought of something. "Fine, I'll tell you where it is if you let go of Simon."

"I'm listening."

I took a deep breath, praying that it worked. "It's in the loft where you found me. There's a loose floorboard in the bedroom. My mom didn't know I knew, but she he hid it there."

Theo stared at me for a second before ordering some of his guys to go get it and then getting in my face. "If you're lying, I'm not just gonna kill your friend, I'm gonna make you watch as Gretel rips him to shreds." It took everything I had not to spit it in his face.

It had been almost twenty minutes of me sitting in the dark surrounded by these mongrels before anything happened. We suddenly heard alarms blaring and then mist fell from the sprayers in the ceiling. My best guess what that it was a fire and that it wasn't by accident.

"It's a fire, find it," Theo ordered, "I'll take care of the girl. Go"

When he grabbed me, we walked outside and around the building until we got to this big storage containment unit. He opened the door and shoved me in before locking it and leaving. I was in complete darkness before I remembered to use the witchlight in my pocket. It lit the room and I walked forward, taking out my stele to draw a rune, but I didn't have time to before the door opened by itself. It startled me and I fell over, but it wasn't Theo who opened the door. Instead, towering over me was a tall, dark-skinned man.

"I finally found you, Clary." His words assured me that he, too, thought I was my sister, but I had no idea who he was. "Clary? Clary." I hadn't answered him, yet.

I stood up then, trying to make a decision. I needed to find out who this person was before I gave myself away. "Stay away from me," I warned.

"Don't be afraid," he pleaded. "I traced Alaric's car to the pier when he didn't return my calls. I'm here to help you."

"How do I know that?" I asked, holding out my stele to protect myself.

He sighed. "I promised your mother I would protect you if anything happened to her. You know me."

He hadn't made an advance toward me and he wasn't holding a weapon. "I don't, actually. All I know is that that Alaric guy is a dick and I don't have your precious Cup."

He looked confused then, almost caught off guard. "What are you talking about? It's me, it's Luke."

My eyes widened slightly and I took a step back. "I'm not Clary, and I would think very carefully about what you say next."

"What the hell do you mean you're not-" he cut himself off, taking a step back. "You're not Clary."

"Pretty sure I just said that." I retorted.

"Adrienne." He just said my name.

"You know about me," I concluded. "That doesn't mean I trust you."

"Listen to me, Adrienne, I want to help you get back to your Institute, but you have to come with me. Where's Clary?"

"She's not here, she didn't come with us, but even if I trusted you, I couldn't come with you. I need to get Simon."

"I will help you." He took a step forward and raised my stele again. "You know you can't cast spells with that thing."

"Obviously. I also know that my sister stabbed one demon with it already, I wonder how much it would hurt you."

He grabbed it out of my hand before I could react. "You need to come up with better fighting tactics, and we need to go. Now."

He'd grabbed my hand and started running, and as much as I resisted, he just pulled harder. He was getting ready to turn the corner when Alec, Jace, and Clary appeared in front of us. My heart swelled when I saw the two of them. Jace made a swift kick to the back of Luke's knee and when he bent over, I grabbed the arm holding my wrist and used as much momentum as possible to flip him onto his back. I looked at him on the ground and smirked. "How's that for fighting tactics?" I turned back to my friends before I pulled each of them into a hug. "I'm so glad you guys are here."

"Are you okay?" Jace asked me.

"I will be as soon as we find Simon," I said and gestured for them to follow me.

We'd run up to the Jade Wolf just in time to see Izzy and Simon meeting us out front.

"Addi!" He yelled, running toward me. I was so relieved that I felt tears well up as I hugged him.

"Simon."

"Are you okay?" He asked, squeezing me tighter.

I did the same. "I was so worried about you."

"Okay, hate to break up the reunion but we've got a bunch of Werewolves trying to kill us so maybe we should get going." Jace pointed out and then I remembered my bag.

"Wait, the box. I left my bag at the loft."

Alec shook his head. "No, we've got it. I didn't screw up everything."

Simon turned around and then we all saw them. They were watching us. "Simon," Izzy spoke slowly, "don't make any fast moves."

Jace pulled out a seraph blade. "This can't be good." Izzy readied her whip and Alec readied his arrow. I grabbed the blade in Jace's waistband and got ready to throw it.

Alec turned slightly, seeing two more wolves. "We're surrounded. Everyone stay together."

We all had our backs to each other, watching all sides. "Believe me, I'm not going anywhere." Simon's voice trembled and I felt his hand grab my arm. All I could do was pray that I was the one who got to kill that Theo bastard.

The door to the Jade Wolf was pushed open, and the biggest wolf yet walked out, his eyes glowing green. "Everyone, get back, that's the alpha leader!" Jace warned.

Then there was a howl and Clary screamed. "Jace, behind!"

It tried to leap over us but was intercepted by another that took it down, fighting viciously. The snarled and yelped, scratching and clawing while they moved everything around them, putting us on edge.

"He's challenging the alpha!" Alec exclaimed.

Clary stared with wide eyes. "He's helping us."

"Or cutting in line to kill us," Simon commented.

There was sudden silence, and when we went to see the damage, Theo was lying on the ground in his own blood. Izzy lowered her whip. "The alpha's dead."

"Damn it, I really wanted to be the one who put an end to that bastard," I complained. "Good riddance."

The challenger walked in front of the body and he glowed as he changed forms. Then, standing in front of us was Luke, his clothes torn to shreds and his body not much better off. "Oh, crap. Luke." I whispered.

The wolves behind us began to howl, and they all changed into their human forms, bowing to Luke to in perfect synchronicity.

"What is it? What's happening?" Clary asked.

"When a werewolf kills the alpha leader, he becomes the new alpha," Jace explained. "Your friend, Luke, is the new leader of the pack, now."

"Clary. Adrienne..." He sighed. I looked at him, taking a step forward. Clary reassured Jace that it was okay before she did the same.

He looked at the two of us and smiled. "I promised your mother I'd always protect you two." I couldn't help but smile back after what he just did, but before either of us could say anything, he collapsed.

"No, Luke!" She exclaimed and went to help him.

"We need to get the Clary and Addi back to the Institute and stay out of Downworlder business." I heard Alec say. I turned around and he and Jace were up close and personal with each other.

"Why don't you stay out of it, I'm going to help them," Jace said.

Alec was taken aback. "We have to report to our mother."

"You and Isabelle can do that. I'll be fine on my own." Jace walked away from Alec to talk to Clary, while Simon attempted to help Luke stand.

"His wounds are deep. Only a warlock's magic can cure an alpha's bite." He told Clary in a sympathetic voice.

"We have to get him to Magnus." She pleaded.

"That's exactly what we're gonna do."

Simon was struggling and I heard Luke moan. "Clary, we gotta go," he said, "I'll drive, I'm the only one with a mundane license."

When Simon, Clary, and Jace walked away with Luke, I stood with Isabelle and Alec. "Are you two okay?" I asked him, searching his face, but it was blank.

He just stared off. "I don't know."

Simon called to me before he got in the car. "Are you coming?"

I took one last look at Alec and Izzy before I walk toward Simon. I pulled him into a hug and he wrapped his arms around me. "I need to help Alec explain what happened. Just promise me you'll get Luke to Magnus."

We let go and he nodded before getting in and shutting the car door. I looked at it as they drove off and I looked back at the Lightwoods. I realized that I had no idea what would happen next.

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original characters or storylines. They belong to Cassandra Clare and the writers of Shadowhunters. I only own my own character and ideas.

Alright, so, that was the chapter. I realize that it took awhile. I just got settled back in at home, so it took a little longer. Please, favorite and review your ideas or thoughts, I would appreciate it and I hope you enjoyed it!

-Red


	6. Chapter 6

When we'd gotten back to the Institute, Alec went off somewhere alone, and Izzy went to talk to their mom. The three of us were walking through the main room while she tried to talk some sense into Maryse.

"You're sure the Seelies think Valentine killed their scouts?" Maryse asked, not slowing down in the least. For whatever reason, she was being extra hostile today, and I wasn't sure how much of it I was going to be able to handle.

Izzy kept up with her without fail, but I was having a harder time staying at there pace given how short I was. "It's why they've broken off contact with the Clave. They're considering switching sides."

Maryse glanced back at Izzy in a skeptical kind of way. "That's totally irrational."

"It's self-preservation!" Izzy exclaimed. Maryse stopped walking and turned around to face us. Part of me felt awkward like I was intervening on a mother-daughter argument alone, but the other part of me was afraid to leave Izzy alone with her right now for fear of one killing the other. "They think Valentine can win. Seelies always want to be on the winning side."

Maryse eyes bore into Izzy's, and she spoke with a firmness that left no room for argument. "Never trust a people who can't lie. They find much more inventive ways to stab you in the back." Then she sighed like she was the one who couldn't get through to Izzy. "I suppose you find that attractive."

Maryse slightly shook her head and walked away from us. Izzy's face was defeated. I put my hand on her shoulder and she looked at me. "Come on, let's go find Alec." She nodded and followed me to his room.

When we found him standing with his back to the door, Izzy fixed her expression to one that couldn't be broken and walked in before me. "Mom's in rare form today."

"She' been different since she got back from Idris," Alec replied before turning around to face us.

Izzy looked down for a moment. "If you say so. Same old judgemental Mom with me."

I inhaled deeply before asking my dying question. "Have you spoken to Jace, yet?"

"He can call me when he's done chasing the little girl and-"

"Alec," I interrupted him, a tired expression gracing my features. I didn't have the energy to fight after all that had happened last night. "You need to call Jace."

"No 'welcome home' for the old man?" We heard from the doorway and I turned around to see Robert Lightwood standing with a big grin plastered on his face. Max Lightwood bounded in after and ran into Alec's arms.

"Max!" Alec was surprised but held the little boy nonetheless.

"Daddy," Izzy greeted her father with a smile and they hugged before Robert walked over and gave me my own hug.

"It's great to see you, Robert." I greeted him. Max let go of Alec and ran to hug my legs before I bent over to wrap my arms around him. "Hey, Little Lightwood. What are you doing back so soon?"

"Got in trouble in Mumbai." He admitted sheepishly.

"Oh, what'd you do?" Alec asked, kneeling down to be at his height.

Max tried to hide it. "Nothing."

"He started a fire with his stele during Rune Studies," Robert informed us, looking at his youngest son and shaking his head.

Izzy chuckled at her brother and walked over to hug him. "Max."

"I told you I was hungry!" He tried to defend himself and glanced back at Alec. "I was trying to draw the nourishment rune."

I furrowed my brow inquisitively at the kid. "Those two runes look nothing alike, Max. Have you been causing mischief on purpose?" I teased.

Max rolled his eyes slightly. "No, they look alike to me."

"Max," Robert got his son's attention, "go up to your room. Open the Grey Book and look up the extinguish rune." He ordered, pointing in the general direction of Max's room. Max sighed and did as he was told before Robert crossed his arms and got serious.

"Where is Clary Fairchild? Your mother told me she was missing." He asked.

I crossed my own arms. "She's not missing, we know where she is. She's with Jace."

"We can't have that girl out of Institute control, the entire Shadow World is looking for her."

"Don't you think we know that?" I asked him, letting irritation seep into my voice. "I was kidnapped yesterday because they mistook me for her. Clary and Jace aren't out of control, they're helping a friend."

Robert's expression never changed and he just turned around and walked out after speaking his final words to us. "It's a security risk. Get them both back here, now."

I groaned and turned to the Lightwoods. "What is it with your parents?" Izzy half-smiled with sympathy and Alec just shook his head before pulling out his phone and walking out. I winked at Izzy and activated my hearing rune. Standing around the corner and listening in. Yeah, I was nosy. Sometimes it was better to be.

"You need to get back to the Institute," Alec stated as soon as Jace answered the phone. I rolled my eyes. Always right to the point, aren't you, Alec?

"You need to help me first," Jace replied.

"No, I'm not messing around." Alec was getting frustrated.

"Me neither. I need your help." I raised my eyebrows. What was going on?

Alec slowed down a bit. "You okay?"

"I'm fine, it's Magnus. He needs your powerful Shadowhunter energy or something like that." I had to clamp my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing out loud. Yeah, I'm sure that's it.

Alec stuttered out his response. "Magnus? Why does Magnus need me?"

"To help save Luke's life. He needs Addi here, too. Luke apparently needs her and Clary."

Alec shook his head, irritated. "No, I told you at the wolf den, no more Downworlder business. We can't be seen as interfering with a pack-alpha dispute. How can you even ask me-"

"I shouldn't have to ask you, Alec. We're parabatai." I winced. Ouch.

"That's exactly my point."

"Alec, you're a man of honor, and the only person in the world I would trust with something like this. I'm counting on you to the right thing." I heard Alec sigh, and I knew that he would be there.

Quickly, I ran to my room and grabbed a jacket before texting Alec that I was going to Magnus's. Alec asked how I knew, but I told him that it was a just a feeling I'd had.

When I walked into Magnus's place, I heard him and Clary talking. Or rather, I heard Clary panicking and Magnus trying to calm her down.

"Look it is one thing to draw monsters and demons but it is completely different to see them up close and personal." She was saying as Magnus tried to complete his potion. "I don't know what I'm doing."

"Don't sell yourself short." He reasoned with her. "You forget, I've seen you in action, Clary Fairchild."

"So have I," I said, making my presence known. "You were made for this."

When she saw me, she ran over and hugged me. "Thank goodness, you're here."

"Of course," I replied.

"Jocelyn, no, don't... Don't..." Luke was talking in his sleep. We ran over to him as he lay on the couch, bloodied bandage and all.

"Luke, I'm here." Clary tried to calm him and I held his hand to make sure he knew we were right next to him. "We're here."

"Let me take your pain away. Agitation will only make the venom work faster." Magnus asked his permission but that wasn't what he was worried about.

"No, you need to know. You both need to know. Please."

"Magnus, do it." I pleaded. He looked like he was in so much pain.

Luke groaned and grunted. "You need to tell them. All of it." He couldn't get it out without screaming. "Promise me."

Magnus nodded knowingly and snapped his fingers, working his magic and we could see Luke visibly relax ever so slightly. "The poison is spreading." He said. "Your suitors need to hurry?"

"Suitors?" I asked, not knowing what exactly that meant.

Clary looked up at me and rolled her eyes. "Jace and Simon went to get the ingredients for the antidote."

"You let Simon go with Jace? I guarantee only one comes back." I groaned, knowing how much they hated each other.

Clary sighed. "Simon didn't really give much choice." She glanced behind her at Magnus, who was now working on the potion he was trying to produce. "Tell us what? What was so important that Luke risked his life?"

I was interested, too. "I'd like to know, also."

Magnus grabbed and drink and walked back over. "Everything Jocelyn had hoped to hide from you." Magnus stopped for a second and without warning, snapped his fingers. A sketchpad and chalk appeared next to Clary, while a dark, leather-bound journal and a pen appeared next to me. I raised my eyebrows in surprise.

"Why?" She asked, gesturing to it.

"When you two were younger, I'd watch you sketch and write constantly. It was your bliss." He said nostalgically, stirring the potion. "You're gonna need some bliss now."

I ran my hands over the front of the book, enjoying the way it felt under my fingertips and the way the pages smelled.

"Back then, there wasn't a day I didn't draw. It was like breathing." She ran her hands over the white paper. "Now I look at this blank page and barely even know what to do."

I nodded, giving her a half-smile. "I know what you mean. I used to write everything down. I would document everything important that happened to me, afraid that I would forget. I used to write stories imagining myself in different worlds or I'd write poetry or song lyrics that encrypted my feelings." I shook my head, twirling the pen in my fingers. "Now I can't seem to find the time to write anything down."

"Sometimes I feel like my art... My memories, my life... It all vanished with that memory demon." I saw the regret on her face and felt sympathetic in a way. I grew up as the person I was meant to be but without the memory of Clary. Clary... She grew up to be a shadow of who she should have been, living a mundane life without her sister. It was sad to think about it.

"Your art, your words... Everything the two of you are. They're all still here." He touched my shoulder and I looked over to see him doing the same with Clary. "You're the women your mother always knew you could be."

"But tried to keep me from being." She muttered. I couldn't help but wonder what I would've been like if I'd grow up with my mother and with Clary.

"That's why we need to know how we got here." I voiced.

Clary glanced at Magnus. "Will it help us find our mother?"

"That's the only reason I can think of why Luke would be so adamant." Magnus sighed and stirred the potion.

Clary and took a deep breath and turned to him. "I'm ready." When she glanced at me for confirmation to go on, I nodded my head.

"Bring it, Warlock." Then I opened my book and started to write until what Magnus sod influenced how I felt as he talked.

"When I first heard about your father, around the time he and Jocelyn first got together, long before the Uprising and the Circle, Valentine elevated the Morgenstern name to be synonymous with virtue, and your mother was at his side." Magnus thought back through the years. "But by the time my people came to know him barely two years later... his name had become synonymous with devastation. Your mother told me it was then that she first saw the signs."

Magnus told us about how he slaughtered numerous warlocks and how Valentine spoke ill of the Downworlders and the Accords. "They never found the all the bodies. We'd all stood with the Clave for centuries."

"How did that not matter to him?" Clary asked in disbelief.

I shook my head. "He'd already gone insane."

"He was obsessed with ensuring the purity of blood," Magnus spoke with disgust apparent in his voice. "Convinced that the impurities were a threat to peace."

"He was the threat to peace," I muttered, scribbling faster than before due to agitation.

"Madmen rarely make sense. Mostly, they just hate, and he hated the Downworlders for the gifts that we possess that he could not have." I felt awful. Magnus spoke with so much pain in his voice. "He hated us enough to kill us all."

Clary put down her chalk and got up, looking too antsy to sit still. Magnus went over to peek at Clary's drawing before she started to rant. "Ever since our mother was kidnapped and the Shadow World invaded my life so many Downworlders have helped me not even thinking about what it might cost them. How could Valentine not see the good in any of them?"

"He was blinded his ambition," Magnus answered, not looking up.

"Why didn't the Clave stop him?" I asked, confused as to why the Clave, who never wanted anything but order and rules, let a rogue Shadowhunter try to decimate the Downworld.

Magnus sighed and shook his head with a sarcastic smile. "He was clever, him and his followers. They managed to convince the Clave that the Downworlders that killed on their special missions had violated the Accords in some way. Complete fabrications."

"How the Clave not see?" Clary asked.

I shook my head, unable to believe it. "The Clave believed that this one Shadowhunters found all of these Downworlders who all just so happened to break the Accords. He killed all of them and no one found it suspicious? No, I don't buy it." I crossed my arms.

"Shadowhunters believe in the Law as absolute. They could never conceive of one of their own going astray. "

Clary laughed harshly. "My father didn't go astray, Magnus. He went insane."

"What happened back then is happening again." He glanced from Clary to me. "The Clave refuses to believe that Valentine's a threat. Nineteen years ago, their lack of vision allowed the Circle to almost decimate the entire Shadow World."

"That was the Uprising," I concluded.

"Yes, Valentine wanted to create a new Shadowhunter army, and for that, he needed the Mortal Cup. He knew it would be on display at the signing of the Accords as a show of the Clave's power." Magnus didn't need to say it, and I could see it in Clary's face that she'd figured it out, too. Valentine had slaughtered anyone who got in between him and the Cup. Hundreds of Shadowhunters. "He seized the opportunity to accomplish everything he ever wanted. Destroy the Accords, murder Downworlders, and secure the Cup."

Clary paced, trying not to cry. "How could my mom and Luke be a part of something like this?"

"Jocelyn and Luke tried to prevent the Uprising," he informed her. "They tried to change Valentine's mind about Downworlders."

Clary stopped pacing and looked Magnus in the eye. "Obviously, they didn't."

"Clary, if it wasn't for your mother and Luke, the Circle would have won," Magnus told us in detail about Luke stopping Magnus before he could get away with Cup, and Jocelyn coming to Luke's rescue before Valentine could kill him. She'd run away with Cup.

"Ever since I found out Valentine was my father, I wondered how my mother could be married to someone like that and stay." She mused.

I shook my head. "How did we come from someone like that?"

"She had to stop him." Clary realized, going back to her sketchpad.

"And safeguard the Cup," Magnus added. "Everything Jocelyn did, she did to save the people she'd sworn to protect. She took her oath as a Shadowhunter seriously."

"Yeah, but how does that help us find the Cup," I asked, wanting him to get to the point.

Magnus shrugged. "Maybe Luke thinks if you know your mother better, you'll know where she hid it."

"Then tell me why she gave up being a Shadowhunter." I looked up at him and then he crouched down to be at eye-level with the two of us.

"Because the one thing that she loved more is you two. She had to protect you."

Clary sighed. "From our father, the lunatic."

Not much time went by before we heard Luke again. "It was our fault! It was our fault!"

"Luke!" Clary peeled back the bandage to check the wound. "It's worse."

Magnus tried to take away his pain but had more trouble than the first time. "I'm running out of magic."

"What do we do?" She asked, scrambling around the potion.

"I can't leave him, but the potion stock still needs Komodo scale." He said, concentrating on Luke. "Find it, add the rest when they get here. You'll have to feed it to Luke."

I groaned, trying to hold Luke down. "Where the hell are they?"

"Magnus, what about you?" Clary shouted over the noise.

"I'll hold on as long as I can." Clary hesitated in the doorway, watching us. "Go!"

When she left, Luke started to shudder more than ever and I could see Magnus visibly getting weaker before he tipped like he would faint. Before he could though, Alec walked through the door and caught him as he was falling.

"Alec, holy crap. What took you so long?" I asked, a little annoyed that he was so late.

He looked at me with an expression that said he wasn't in the mood. "I'll explain later." Magnus looked up to see Alec holding him and everything seemed to slow down.

"Help me." He pleaded. "I need your strength."

Alec contemplated and grabbed Magnus's hand. "Take what you need."

Magnus gave Alec a smile before he increased the amount of Magic he put into Luke. Everything intensified and it got louder. Luke became harder to hold down and I started to pray to the angel that Jace and Simon would make it back in time. Almost like it heard me, the two guys ran in the door with the ingredient in hand.

"Clary!" He yelled and she ran back into the room.

"Do you have it?" She asked, out of breath. Jace gave it to her and she ran to put it in the potion.

"Simon, help me!" I pleaded, having a harder time keeping Luke still. Simon sat down next to me and did his best to hold him down.

Not nearly quick enough, Clary and Jace came back to us with what looked like a shot glass full of the potion. She carefully poured it into Luke's mouth and everything instantly calmed down. The noise quieted, the rumbling stopped and we could all hear each other breath again. Magnus had finally collapsed right into Alec's arms as they sat on the floor.

"Clary." Luke smiled as he looked at her and turned his gaze to me. "Adrienne."

I couldn't help but smile because he would be okay. A few minutes later, we'd calmed down. Luke was in Magnus's bed healing and resting. I was trying to clean up the place a bit and Clary was recovering from all that had happened. When Alec walked in, he saw me and Clary and didn't say anything, just walked by us to start picking stuff up.

"Alec, wait." Clary got his attention and he stood up again, waiting for her to talk. "If you hadn't gotten here in time, I... I'm just, I'm glad you and Jace are okay, now." She walked toward him to talk and I hung back, letting her say what she needed to.

I could only describe Alec's facial expression as smug, but he wasn't gloating. "I didn't do this for Jace." It was like he knew something we didn't.

Clary smiled at him. "Then I'm glad you did it for you."

Alec smiled the tiniest bit, then Jace walked in. When Alec saw him, he held out his hand as if to shake it, trying to make peace. Jace took his hand and then pulled Alec in for a hug. "Thank you."

Alec pulled away and smiled at the both of them before walking out of the room. Jace turned to Clary with a chuckle. "You have an interesting effect on people, Clary Fray."

"He helped save Luke's life." She looked at me too, including me. "You all did. Thank you."

Jace tried to be modest. "For what? Running an errand?"

I gave a laugh at that, a very forced laugh. "Well, I don't know about running the errand, but bringing Simon back alive was nice of you." I had a sarcastic smiled plastered on my face before I let it drop and my anger showed as I hit Jace on the shoulder for it. "Seriously, what the hell? Did you think taking a mundane, Simon, no less, on a trip to your black market Downworlder was a good idea? You know how much he hates mundanes."

Jace was stuck in between laughing and serious as he rubbed the shoulder I'd hit. "He didn't give much of a choice. The mundane was bound and determined to prove himself."

I rolled my eyes at him and Clary laughed. I went back to picking stuff up off the floor as they talked. The aforementioned mundane walked into the room then and told Clary that Luke needed to see her. She gave him a quick hug and walked out of the room.

From what I could see, Simon was on edge. "Tell Clary I've got something to do." He walked by Jace before Jace got his attention.

"Simon." When he turned around, nothing came out of Jace's mouth. I saw Simon reach into his pocket and pulled out a bill, before leaving it on the couch.

"It's cool." He said and walked out.

I walked over to where Jace stood at a loss for words and picked up the twenty. "What's this for?" When Jace had nothing to say I stuck it in my pocket, walking outside and dialing his number but getting no answer.

After a minute, I walked back inside to go check on Luke, but when I got to the outside of the door, I could hear Luke and Clary talking about Valentine.

"Valentine became convinced we were having an affair. He was obsessed with winning Jocelyn's heart back." There was a pause. "For love, he was willing to do anything. Even compromise his own principles. He was fixated on becoming a better soldier. That led him to do the unthinkable."

I walked into the room, then, deciding to just be apart of the conversation. "What exactly do you mean by 'the unthinkable'?" I asked, able to feel the concern showing on my face.

Luke looked at me in surprise while Clary was enthralled in Luke's version of the history. I sat on the bed next to her and he continued with caution. "Experiment with Downworlder blood."

I shot back up out of my seat, outraged. "Hypocrite! What the hell? You mean to tell me that Valentine, a man who wanted to kill the entire Downworld due to 'blood impurity' injected himself with demon blood so he could, what? Become half Shadowhunter and half whatever else he could come up with?"

Luke looked alarmed. "Valentine was desperate. He wanted so badly to be better than any other powerful being he could think of that he went to great lengths to prove himself to Jocelyn."

"Oh, so, he thought that turning himself into a freakin' science experiment was the way to win her back?" I scoffed and sat back. "I guess dear old Daddy wasn't just insane, he was also stupid."

Luke sighed, moving on with the story. "In the end, the love between me and Jocelyn did more damage to Valentine than anything anyone else could have done. We broke his heart."

"At least now we know he had one," Clary said in a quiet voice. "Before his crazy, distorted world-view came in."

I was curious, though. Not about Valentine the Shadowhunter, but the person he had to have been first. "What was he like back then? Before everything."

"In the early days of the Circle?" I nodded. "Oh, he was honorable. Idealistic." A small smile graced Luke's features. "He was charismatic."

"Just mom's type. Just like you." Clary commented, smiling at Luke.

Luke shook his head. "Oh, no. I never came close. He was a leader. Devoted to protecting us from dying pointless deaths."

"And you believed in him.." She mused.

Luke looked up at her. "If Simon told you he had the cure for cancer, you'd want to believe him, too."

Simon's face popped into my head, all brown eyes, and funny nervous smiles and innocence. I smiled. I would believe anything he said, he didn't look capable of lying.

"Well, I'd probably give him the benefit of the doubt, at least." She chuckled.

Luke nodded. "Which is what I did, what we all did. The demons were winning. We couldn't train people fast enough to keep up. Val wanted the Clave to use the Mortal Cup to create more Shadowhunters, but that just made them angry."

Clary tilted her head. "Isn't more Shadowhunters a good thing?"

"Not the way he was proposing. Ever since the angel Raziel created the first Shadowhunters with the Cup, it's been forbidden to use the Cup again to rebuild their forces."

Clary turned away and I tried to imagine the world where more Shadowhunters were made every day. "The easier Shadowhunters were to create, the easier it would be for the Clave to be overturned by anyone who was like Valentine."

"Jocelyn and I, we tried pulling him back, but he just misconstrued that as..." He trailed off.

Clary finished for him. "The affair."

"It's not your fault, Luke." I tried to assure him. "There's no way you two could have pushed him over the edge. He did that to himself when he decided to inject himself with demon blood."

Luke closed his eyes for a moment. "And the more injections he took, the deeper it seemed he descended into madness." Luke had explained how Jocelyn sketched everything she felt but never told anyone, and how it pushed Valentine even more into his own crazy.

"Magnus never told me that part. Why would she hide that she's an artist, especially from me?" She wondered, bringing her own sketchbook to show Luke.

Luke answered with regret. "Because after that night, she locked that part of herself away. She never wanted their lives to affect either of you." He looked at the both of us.

"What did he do, Luke?" I asked, not sure if I wanted to hear the answer.

"Well, your mother is the only person I've ever told this to. I never wanted it to burden either of you." He said.

Clary and I shared a look and said in unison, "Tell us."

Luke took a deep breath before he began. "Valentine had asked me to back him up on a mission. Some farmers had gone missing. He said it was werewolves."

He didn't have to explain anymore before I figured it out for myself. My eyes welled up with tears at the thought. "No," I whispered, covering up my mouth with my hand.

"He left you with them," Clary said, her voice wavering.

Luke's face didn't change. "He betrayed our parabatai bond, and then he betrayed everything else he believed in." Luke went over the story of how Jocelyn had saved Luke's life when Valentine had tried to kill him, and then how she ran away with Cup while he ran after her. "For a while, I thought he'd killed her. He wanted us both dead." Luke shook his head in disgust. "He killed thousands. Turned Shadowhunter against Shadowhunter. Do understand what I'm saying."

Clary looked at me and I saw it click in her eyes. "God only knows what he'd do if he got the Cup."

Luke walked over to her and took her hands in his. "Bottom line, we have to get the Cup before he does."

She shook her head in denial. "But I don't know where it is, or even where to start looking."

"It all starts and ends with the two of you." Luke stared at her with intensity, and I could feel the pressure in the room rise.

She looked over at me and all I could do was stare at Luke. "How so? Clary knew her all those years. Our best bet is to assume that wherever she left it, she left it for Clary to find." I walked over to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "And I can promise you that whatever you find, I will be with you every step of the way, but I don't know how I would be any help."

"Why didn't she tell us any of this?" Clary asked, running her hands through her hair.

"She didn't think this would happen. She made provisions in case it did, the potion, Dot... She made sure that if something happened to her, the two of you would find each other and you would be able to figure out what to do. Jocelyn said that I should tell the two of you everything about our past, that it would unlock you."

"What does that even mean?" Clary was exasperated.

"I don't know, but you do."

I faced him, dumbfounded. "Luke, she lost her memories and I never had any, to begin with."

"There are clues in the Mundane World and the Shadow World. All the two of you have to do, is think."

Clary started to freak out. "Luke, if mom hid clues, I don't know what they are. I don't know how to look for them."

Luke sat down, holding out his hands. "You have to figure this out."

"Luke, I don't..." She stopped suddenly and turned to me. "The box."

I felt my eyes grow wider at it. I had completely forgotten. "The box. I completely forgot about the box." I walked to the side of the room, pulling the box that I'd taken from Clary's loft out of my bag and then sat in front of Luke. "What is this? Jocelyn told Clary it belonged to our father, but Valentine is our father, so what is JC?"

He was already shaking his head. "No. Absolutely not. I want you to remember your father could be a good man."

I was tired of trying to justify someone who couldn't be saved. "It's a little late for that, Luke."

Clary wanted to know, too. "After all that he did to you-"

"I need to know," I stated, holding out the box.

"This is worse, Adrienne!" He yelled and Clary lost it.

"We don't care!" She took a deep breath. "We need to know. You said yourself that you need to tell us everything."

"JC stands for Jonathan Christopher," Luke said, not holding back anymore.

I was taken aback. "What?"

The surprise didn't stop there as Luke continued. "Your brother."

Clary gasped but his words silenced me because I was the only one who understood the gravity of them. At first, I thought maybe I'd heard wrong. It couldn't be true. It must have been present on my face because I was so numb that I couldn't seem to control my facial expression.

"We have a brother?" Clary asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"You did." Luke clarified. "He died in a fire at Fairchild Manor."

I was beyond confused. Jonathan Christopher, our brother, died?

"A fire that your father set."

My eyes snapped up to meet Luke's and I heard Clary's breath rush out before she did something I wasn't expecting to happen. One minute, she had her hand on the box, and the next, the box was a 2-dimensional drawing in Clary's sketchpad.

"What the hell?" I exclaimed, astonished.

"That's it." She murmured and stammered her way through her sentence. "That's the ending of the story that my mother needed us to hear, but..."

"Is that what she meant to unlock? How did you do that?"

Luke took the drawing in his hands. "There are Shadowhunters that have unusual Angelic Powers but I've never seen anyone do what you just did."

Clary looked at the picture intensely for a moment, before glancing up at Luke. "Can these powers be inherited?"

Luke contemplate for a second before answering her. "I think so."

Clary's stare bore into mine as she said her words, changing us all.

"I know where our mother hid the Cup."

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original characters, words or storylines from this script. They belong to Cassandra Clare and the writers of Shadowhunters. I only own my own character and ideas.

Okay, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! I would appreciate it if you favorited and left some reviews with your own thoughts and ideas for what happens next! Until next time.

-Red


	7. Chapter 7

I was in shock from the time when Luke announced that we had a brother named Jonathan Christopher to right now as I sat in front of Clary, Jace, and Magnus while she told us about how she knew where to find the Mortal Cup.

"I know where the Cup is." She'd stated dramatically. She'd told me about it separately and I'd seen in her mind's eye what she was seeing, a tarot card with the Cup on it. It was beautifully painted and it looked just like all the other pictures I had ever seen of the Mortal Cup, but I didn't have a lot to say about it.

I couldn't stop thinking about what Luke said. We had a brother, and I knew that it was totally impossible, but the fact that his name was Jonathan Christopher had me freaked because it happened to be Jace's real name, too. I wasn't going to tell Clary that, though. Luke said our brother had died. I guess that was that.

Jace walked around the couch to face her. "Come again?"

"The tarot cards." She explained. "My mom, she must've painted them years ago, but the Mortal Cup has to be hidden in the Ace of Cups. The card looks exactly like it."

When Magnus and Jace shared a look that was a bit too skeptical, I knew they were thinking the same thing I had thought. Clary got confused. "Wait, why aren't you guys happy about this? All we have to do is find..." She trailed off in realization.

"Dot." I finished her thought.

Jace met my eyes. "If Dot had the cards when she was taken, we don't have much time. If Valentine gets his hands on the Cup..."

Magnus stood up and silenced Jace with a hand gesture. "We know. If Valentine started creating Shadowhunters or gained the control of demons, it'd be like Beyoncé riding a dinosaur through Times Square." I tilted my head in confusion at his analogy. "People would notice."

"But he can control demons. I've seen it." Clary said, looking up at Magnus.

Magnus just waved it away. "Paying off a few demons is easy, especially since they rarely survive long enough to collect."

"Still waiting on Valentine's thank-you card." Jace joked.

Magnus continued. "Opening up the gates of hell, that's a little more tricky."

"Valentine doesn't have the cards." We heard a deep voice and then Luke walked into the room, looking a hundred times better than yesterday. "They're in my desk back at the precinct. When Clary went missing, I went to the loft and cleared everything out so the Circle couldn't track the girls."

I grinned. "Thanks for that. Now it should be easy."

Magnus sat down with a sigh. "Mm, that's what General Custer said."

Luke nodded and agreed. "Magnus is right. Valentine has spies everywhere, even the NYPD. We have to be discreet."

"Discreet?" Clary asked with a smile. "You look like something out of the mummy movie."

Magnus laughed and Luke shot Clary a smirk. "We'll go in the morning. Werewolf healing, remember? This is nothing a couple of hours of beauty sleep can't fix."

When we'd all agreed, I pulled Clary aside. "Hey, I think I'm gonna stick around here while you guys go to the precinct. I'm gonna go check on Simon and catch up with Alec and Izzy at the Institute."

Her eyes widened slightly. "You're not coming with us? What if we need you?"

"If you need me, I'm a call away, but you'll be fine. Luke seems like he can protect you and I know Jace can." I chuckled. "Besides, I think I need some time away from you for a little while. We're making it easier for Valentine to track us."

I saw her nodding in agreement before I'd even finished what I was saying. "Okay, yeah, I get it. Do me a favor, though, when you check on Simon? Ask him why he just disappeared. I haven't seen him since last night."

I nodded and waved before I said goodbye to Jace and Magnus. It occurred to me then that I had no idea where Simon lived so I ended up texting Clary and asking for the address. When I showed up at the door, I knocked lightly because it was still early in the morning. A woman who I was assuming was his mom answered the door and immediately smiled at me.

"Oh, Clary, hello." Oh, crap. "Are you here to see Simon?"

I blanked for a moment before deciding for the amount of time I was actually going to be talking to her, acting as Clary would be easier than explaining who I was. I had no idea if Simon had told her about the Shadow World, though I doubted it.

I nodded and smiled back. "Yes, ma'am. Is he here?"

"Oh, ma'am? When did we start that?" She asked with a chuckle.

"Um, well, I don't know, just something I was trying out." I laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of my neck. This was weird. Other than getting kidnapped by Alaric and rescued by Luke, I'd never tried impersonating someone before.

"Elaine, honey, Elaine." She was still smiling which meant that at the most, she just thought Clary was weird, but she opened the door to let me step in. Her house was cozy and small, just like where I'd always picture Simon to live. "Simon's most likely still in bed. I'm surprised that you would visit him so early. Is it about the band?"

Lightbulb. "Um, yeah. It will be really quick, I promise."

"Is everything okay? With the band, I mean." She asked with a concerned look covering her face. I had to keep the expression clear on mine. Seriously, what mother cares that much about her teenage son's band?

I nodded, forcing a smile. "Yeah, sure. Um, Simon asked me to join it. He heard me sing and I guess he just couldn't resist."

Her grin grew so wide that I wouldn't be surprised if it hurt her face. "Oh, that's wonderful." I nodded looking around and she clapped her hands together. "Okay, well, Simon's in his room."

"You know, it's been so long since I've been here, I'm surprised I actually remember which room is his." I laughed even more awkwardly before and hoped she didn't think I was insane.

She let out her own little laugh. "Yeah, well, it's kind of hard to forget that it's the only blue door in the house."

Bingo. "Yeah, right, well. Anyway, I'm just gonna." I gestured and pointed down the hall. "Yeah."

I made my way down the hall to the only blue door and waited until his mom retreated back into the kitchen before knocking. When he didn't answer, I knocked again but instead of any kind of affirmation, I heard the sound of rustling and then a clatter.

I opened the door and what I saw wasn't something I expected.

Simon was hanging halfway in the window with his jacket in hand and one of his feet on the floor while the other sat on his desk. He froze when he saw me and his eyes were so wide they could have fallen out of his head.

"Clary?!" He all but screamed, quite surprised.

I narrowed my eyes and shook my head. "Adrienne."

It was then that he fell all the way through the window onto his bedroom floor. He scrambled to stand up and plopped down on his bed, adjusting his glasses. "Right, Adrienne. Um, what are you doing here."

"I came to check on you, you disappeared pretty quickly." I tilted my head at his appearance. He was wearing the same clothes he had on yesterday, his hair was a mess and he was sweating in all the nervous places. I gestured toward the window where he fell in question. "What the hell was that?"

"I was going running with a friend." He tried to smile but I didn't believe it for one second. I put my hands on my hips.

"Simon, don't lie to me. I've never lied to you."

He dropped the smile and sighed, rubbing his hand over his face. "Promise you won't tell Clary?"

I sat myself down on the bed beside him so that I faced him. "Let me put it this way, I won't bring it up with her. However, if she asks me, I won't lie."

He nodded and took a deep breath. "That's fair. Well, I wasn't out running, but I was with a friend."

I shrugged, not understanding what the big deal was. "Okay?"

He shook his head. "No, no, I was _with_ a friend." He tried putting emphasis on it and I still didn't get it, so I just shrugged again. Then, he came right out and said it. "Adrienne, I slept with Maureen."

I won't lie, I didn't like hearing it. It made my chest kind of hurt and I felt my cheeks get warm, but I never let my face change. "Okay? What's the big deal?"

He stared at me, deadpanned. "I hooked up with my bandmate, and I'm in love with Clary. I started seeing her face this morning when I was talking to Maureen while we were still in bed. It freaked me out."

I scrunched up my face at the thought. "You saw her face, _my_ face, in bed with Maureen?"

He tilted his head and then shook it. "No, not yours, hers."

I squinted my eyes. "What's the difference? We have the same face."

"Well, actually, anyone who paid attention would know that even though both of you have red hair, yours is actually darker than Clary's, probably because she's out more during the day. You also both have green eyes, but Clary's eyes are the same color all the way through and you have like six different shades of green in yours. You also have more freckles than she does, but yours are lighter." He finished.

I could feel that my mouth was hanging open and quickly snapped it shut. We sat in silence for a moment and I saw on his face that he was rethinking everything he'd just said. I decided to break the awkward silence. "What the hell, Simon?" I said and chuckled, trying to lighten the mood.

He laughed too, seeing that I wasn't totally freaked out. "Sorry, I'm just really observant. I've seen both of you up close."

"Then why did you think I was Clary when you saw me?"

"I was imagining her earlier and I thought she was still appearing."

I shook my head in disbelief. "Everyone always said we were identical."

He held up a finger. "Similar, yes, but not identical."

"Apparently so similar that your mom thought I was Clary. By the way, she thinks I'm the new singer in your band, as Clary." I laughed.

"Wow. Um, Clary can't sing. She believed you?" He asked.

It made sense, then. "That's why she was trying to so hard to act happy about it. Well, it doesn't matter. It was just an excuse to talk to you and check to see how you were, but apparently, you were fine. I also needed to give you this." I pulled the twenty he'd left at Magnus' out of my pocket.

He furrowed his brow so I explained. "I saw you leave this with Jace. Why?"

"He didn't tell you?"

"I didn't ask him."

He took a deep breath and rubbed the back of his neck. "I made a bet against Alec showing up at Magnus' to help."

I narrowed my eyes. "Why?"

"Jace was getting under my skin. I wanted to help so Clary would see that I could be there as much as Jace could, and Jace called me a lapdog. So, I told him that he treated Alec the same way and then he yelled at me. Surprise, surprise. Then I made the bet."

I sighed at him. "I can see why Jace yelled at you. I understand that you wanted to prove yourself to Clary, but betting against Alec and Jace isn't going to get you anywhere."

Simon exhaled in frustration. "He just pisses me off so much. I actually..." He trailed off nervously and looked at me. I was confused.

"What did you do?"

He took a deep breath. "We walking to get the ingredients and Jace made me mad and I kind of lost it and... I pulled a knife on him."

I couldn't stop myself from laughing hysterically. At first, I was surprised that he would try something like that but then the hilarity took over. He looked at me with an annoyed expression on his face and it only made my laughing worse. When I finally gained enough control to speak, I wiped away the tears and grabbed his shoulders. "Why the hell would you do that? Do you realize that Jace is a trained-in-combat Shadowhunter? He would have killed you."

He just shrugged, looking down. "I don't know. It's just, I've been really on edge lately and he didn't help."

I crossed my arms. "On edge because of Clary or because of what happened with the vampires?"

"Both." He answered truthfully.

I gave him a half-smile. "I've seen how rough it is to be in love with your best friend, and you know you can call me if you ever need to talk."

He searched my face and took a minute before he smiled. "Okay, thanks, Adrienne."

I nodded before standing up. "Okay, I need to get to the Institute and check on the others. You gonna be good?"

He gave me a thumbs up and a sarcastic smile. I laughed nodded at him again before walking out of his room and quickly making my way through the house before I had another full-blown conversation with his mom. I yelled, "Bye, Elaine!" When I walked out the door, I used an invisibility rune and booked it to the Institute.

When I walked in the doors, a few people turned their heads to look at me but no one said anything I and didn't see Alec or Izzy. I went to my room to showers and changed first because I hadn't in two days, but once I was ready and presentable again, I went and knocked on Izzy's door before opening it.

She was standing by her bed with an open trunk full of clothes. She smiled when she saw me and walked out from behind her bed, giving me a full view.

"Woah," I said, astonished at her suddenly conservative clothing. "Izzy, you look... Like your mom."

She nodded, taking a deep breath. "That's kind of what I was going for. She wants responsible and trustworthy, I'll give her that. Maybe she'll stop emitting constant waves of disdain when she sees me."

I noticed that she'd been looking at a picture frame that now sat in her trunk. "Are you packing this?" I asked incredulously.

"Yeah. I evidently can't be seen as a trustworthy Shadowhunter if I associate with Seelies. So, I broke up with Meliorn." She looked so sad. I walked forward and hugged her as best I could with our height differences.

"I'm sorry, Iz." When I let go she nodded again and smiled.

"It's for the best." She took another deep breath and closed her eyes, before sliding the trunk under her bed. "What's going on? I haven't seen you in two days."

"Yeah. We helped Luke and he got better. Clary, Luke, and Jace all went to Luke's precinct and I wanted to check on Simon and then the Insitute." I explained, purposefully leaving out the part about the Cup. I wasn't going to say anything unless they actually found it.

"Okay, but why did they go to the precinct?" She asked.

I only half-lied. "They're doing Luke a favor, long story. Where's Alec?"

She just shrugged her shoulder. "Last I knew, he was still at Magnus'."

"What? I was just there and I didn't see him. Unless..." I looked at Izzy and she was already grinning to confirm my thought. Alec had totally slept in Magnus' bed last night. "Okay, well, I'll just leave it until he turns up. I'm sure he's fine." I smirked as we walked out of the door.

Izzy walked with purpose when she saw Robert outside of Alec's door. He just kept knocking and getting no answer. "Alec." More knocking. "Alec!" When he looked over at us, we stood there in silence. "Is everything okay?"

Izzy answered nonchalantly. "Better than ever."

Then Robert turned to face her. "There something you want to talk about?"

"No, all good." She answered with a small smile.

He nodded and pointed toward the door. "Have you seen Alec?"

Izzy crossed her arms and I just shrugged. "No, why?"

"He's supposed to fill out the incident reports for all the recent demonic activity."

"I can do it." She said with a look that said, 'no worries'.

"I know you can, but the Clave-" He started to make up an excuse before Izzy interrupted him.

"-will be fine getting it from me." She walked closer and smiled assuringly.

Robert stopped talking and relaxed for a moment. "Of course they will." He nodded. "I'll let your mother know that you're gonna handle this. I'm sure she'll be very glad to hear it."

Izzy was silent for a second before she met her dad's eyes. "Thanks."

She walked away and I followed her up the stairs until we got to the main room where she immediately started to fill out the reports. "Way to go, Iz," I commented.

She tilted her head and glanced at me. "Well, they're never going to take me seriously if I don't find a way to make them."

I nodded approvingly before the missing Lightwood strolled up to the main screen where Izzy worked and I watched, munching on a piece of licorice.

Izzy looked over at him with a knowing look. "You slept at Magnus' place?"

"Didn't do much sleeping." My eyes went wide quickly and Izzy looked at him with her eyebrows raised.

I chuckled. "Damn, that didn't take long."

"No, I was helping treat Luke's wounds, that's all." He defended himself, and I wasn't sure whether or not I heard the small twinge of disappointment in his voice, but I didn't say anything about it.

Izzy watched him as he tried to walk away. "Really."

He turned around, surprised by the tone in her voice. "What?"

Izzy and I walked over to him, and she sighed with a smile. "Nothing, I believe you."

Alec rolled his eyes and lowered his voice down to a whisper. "Okay, Magnus made cocktails. I'm telling you, nothing else happened."

I sighed and tilted my head. "When you're ready to talk about whatever you need to talk about, we're here."

I turned to walked away and he stopped me before I could. "Hey, I talk to you guys."

Izzy scoffed. "Yeah, about everything except your personal life. You know, and it's kind of not fair because we talk to you about ours all the time." I thought about my visit to Simon's today and looked down. I hadn't actually told anyone about my confusion with that situation yet. "For example, I broke up with Meliorn."

"Really? Turning over a new leaf?" Alec asked, dubiously.

Izzy glanced away for a moment. "He was a bit much. Apparently, I need someone more Shadowhunter-ish."

"Izzy, I realize that you're trying to take some of the family heat, and I appreciate it, but you can't change who you are."

I was confused as to why she would have tried this hard to please her mother. "Guys, what is going on with your parents?"

Izzy played with her fingers. "Mom and Dad are going to try to force Alec to marry, they want me to play diplomat for the Institute because I was the one with connections to the Seelies."

I squinted my eyes at Alec. "What? This isn't English court in the 1800's, they can't force you to marry, and isn't being the diplomat always been your job, anyway?"

"There's nothing we can do." Alec shrugged his shoulders.

Izzy put her hand on his shoulder. "I will work as much as I can at it if it means that they will trust me as much and lay off of you a little."

Alec just shook his head. "You are who you are Iz. You can't change it." He started to walk away and Izzy and I followed him.

"And you can?" She asked, trying to keep up with him.

"I know who I am." He laughed though not in a humorous way. "I'm a guy who's about to be disowned when Dad finds out Jace and Clary are still out doing God knows what."

"I think Dad's used to that by now. This is Jace you're talking about." Izzy pointed out.

"Well, he said he'd be an hour. It's been three." Alec said, not in the mood to defend him.

Izzy started to smile. "You don't think he and Clary are..." When she trailed off, the image popped into my head and it made me want to vomit for more reasons than one.

Alec scrunched up his face in disgust. "At a time like this? Not possible."

I chimed in. "Besides, Jace and Clary are doing something important, not just goofing off." Izzy looked at me questioningly and I just avoided her eyes. Alec rolled his own and walked away from me and Izzy. Izzy just looked at me and I awkwardly waved before making my way down to where I knew I wasn't supposed to be. I went to the tile in the training room and runed it open before quickly retrieving my bracelet and closing it again.

I all but ran to my room them, shutting the door and locking it before sitting down on my bed. I silently apologized to Alec for going behind his back and then clasped the bracelet around my wrist. Then, I thought about Clary and I was pulled into their reality. 

_They were standing in a room that was full of boxes. It was just Clary and Jace, facing each other, but no Luke._

 _"How exactly are we gonna get them? I doubt we can make it out of this closet without drawing attention, let alone Luke's desk and you are covered in runes." Jace was saying. I could feel my head tilt in confusion even in the vision._

 _Clary smirked with a twinkle in her eye. "Don't worry, I've got a plan."_

 _"A good plan this time?" Jace asked skeptically._

 _"Ninety percent, just follow my lead." Then she got serious. "Oh, and I apologize."_

 _Jace looked confused. "Apologize for what?"_

 _The smirk was back on her face. "The other ten percent."_

 _Then she walked out of the little room with Jace following her. The two of them rounded a corner and stepped into an office-like room. When they got in there and assessed who was with them, Clary spun around to face Jace._

 _"You son of a bitch!" She exclaimed and brought her hand to his face with a loud crack._

The look on Jace's face was priceless and I fell out of the vision because I started to laugh too hard to stay focused. I wasn't sure what she was doing, but it was funny. Quickly, I brought my hand to the stone and focused again before I missed what happened next. 

_"Stop following me!" She yelled._

 _He grabbed her arm in confusion and whispered. "Hey, what happened to being discreet?"_

 _"Oh, what did you say? You cheated on me?" Clary was talking really loudly, obviously trying to be dramatic and make a scene, and it worked because two police officers walked over to hold Jace back and away from her._

 _Jace was taken aback and he tried to move through the cops. "I did not!"_

 _Clary stormed over to a desk, which I was assuming to be Luke's, and ranted as she went through his drawers, trying to keep the attention off of it. "You will never see me at your crappy apartment again."_

 _Jace started to play along at that point and I felt my body snicker involuntarily. "That girl means nothing to me. Okay? Nothing."_

 _Clary scoffed and continued to rifle through the desk drawers. A blond woman came over to stand next to Clary but kept her eyes on Jace. "This the boyfriend that I heard so much about?"_

 _"Not anymore. I'm dumping him." With no luck, Clary shut the last empty drawer and stood up to face the woman. "Where's all of Luke's stuff?"_

 _"IA took everything, what are you looking for?" The woman asked, looking at Clary now._

 _Clary thought fast for an excuse. I wasn't sure why she didn't just ask for the cards, it's not like they would have mattered the woman one way or the other. "I, uh, I lost a housekey and Luke usually keeps a spare in his desk, so, is there any way I can get it?"_

 _The woman shook her head. "Not until he's cleared."_

 _Clary looked like she was trying to fake being surprised. "Cleared? Of what?"_

 _"Oh, don't worry about it. We'll get it handled." The woman assured her._

 _Jace was still trying to win best actors' award over by the door. "Clary, I'm sorry. I apologize, I just want you to know it only happened like two or... It just happened a couple of times and I am totally-"_

 _"Shut up." Clary and the woman ordered in sync._

 _Jace had a cocky look on his face. "Babe. Come on."_

 _The woman had had enough of trying to keep quiet." Listen, you don't get to call her 'babe', okay? In fact, you don't get to call her at all. Clary's done with you, you got it?" She turned her authority to the cop now. "Take him out."_

 _The escorted Jace out, all while he muttered about how had rights and then he was gone, and it was Clary, the woman, and a couple of other people._

 _The woman looked at Clary sympathetically. "Perhaps, it's for the best." She suggested and nodded, trying to encourage Clary to agree. Clary sighed and slightly nodded, too. Then the woman noticed Clary's Iratze rune on her neck. "Oh, matching tattoos. That's... Big red flag."_

 _Clary stuttered and pathetically tried to cover it. "Oh, this? It's nothing."_

 _"Don't worry about it, I get it. You always fall for the bad boys right?" When Clary didn't say anything she backtracked. "Oh, is that just me?"_

 _"Oh, um, right. I really need that key." She tried again._

 _The woman just shrugged. "I'm sorry, Clary, but IA has all of Luke's things in the evidence vault upstairs." Bingo. "Maybe I can help you find the one you lost. Did you check your bag?"_

 _Clary did look in her bag and feigned surprise when she found the key that was never lost, to begin with. "Oh, wow. You're totally right. Thank you so much."_

 _Clary walked out of the room and at that point, I'd seen enough. I felt my way back to my body and took my hand off the stone to fall out of the vision._

I decided to keep my bracelet in my room, thinking that it would be helpful if I couldn't reach them on the phone. Hopefully, Alec wouldn't notice. Funny enough, not five minutes later I'd gotten a text from Clary that she needed help at the police station. I was glad that I had already been caught up on what was going on and when I showed up outside of the building, Clary, Jace, Alec, and Izzy were already there and waiting.

"Someone call for back up?" I asked, walking up to meet them.

Jace nodded. "Yeah, what took you guys so long?"

"Funny, I was just gonna ask you the same thing," Alec said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Izzy's face was alert and ready but Alec wore his usual scowl. Something told me he was still upset about Jace and Clary being gone for so long.

"It's complicated." Jace insisted.

I looked at Clary and stated, "You found the Cup."

She and Jace both nodded while Izzy was taken aback. " _The_ Cup?"

"Yeah, but then we lost it. We have to sneak back inside the precinct to get it." Clary said, her shoulders slumping in exhaustion.

Alec didn't immediately jump on Clary, but he did glance at Jace with blame aimed his way. "Well, this is a disaster."

"Hang on, Alec." I held out my hand and everyone turned to me. "Demon Pox is a disaster. This is just a small inconvenience. All we need is a plan."

"What about a glamour?" Izzy suggested but Jace just shook his head.

"We tried that, but anyone working with Valentine would be able to see right through it."

"Can we ask Magnus Bane to portal us inside?" Clary asked, looking hopeful. I saw Alec's expression go even darker before I shook my head at her.

"Not the best idea," I warned. "Magnus can only portal us to places he's been to before, anyway." Before anyone could say anything else, we heard ringing and it took me a moment to realize it was coming from my phone. I pulled it out and ready the caller ID before excusing myself to answer it.

"Not the greatest time, Simon," I said once I was far enough away from the group.

"Adrienne, where are you? This is an emergency and normally I would call Clary but you said I could always talk to you and-"

I furrowed my brow when I heard the panic in his voice. "Simon, are you okay?"

"Well, I'm not sure, I haven't been kidnapped, yet, today."

"Simon, seriously, what's going on?"

"I think I'm sick. Like, really sick."

That wasn't what I was expecting to hear. "Sick like you've got a cold or a stomach bug? I hate to break it to you, Simon, but I can't do anything about a mundane illness. I'm not a doctor."

"No, I'm serious, this is different. Please, I need help."

I was conflicted. On the one hand, the Cup was important and if my friends needed me then I had to be here. On the other hand, Simon had called me and I could ignore him if something was really wrong.

"Okay, Simon, I hear you. The problem is that we're kind of in the middle of something important and I need to be here right now. Can you wait until I call you back and then we can figure something out?"

I heard him sigh and I felt bad, but then he said, "Yeah, sure. Call me back when you can."

I exhaled. "Okay, I will. Feel better." I hung up the phone and turned around to see what the plan was, but when I did, Clary and Jace were making their way back into the building. Alec and Izzy were waiting for me and when I walked over there they instantly lead me toward the front doors. Izzy explained the plan on the way to the main area in the precinct. We were supposed to cut the power as a distraction for Clary and Jace to get the Cup.

We'd made our way to where the desk officer was. We needed to grab her keycard to get access to the breaker box.

Alec looked at Izzy expectantly. "I'm guessing you're the distraction?"

Izzy shook her head and I raised my eyebrows in surprise. "Since when?"

"I've decided to grow up, remember? No more distracting for me." She glanced at the officer and smirked. "Besides, I don't think I'm her type."

I got what Izzy was saying and apparently so did Alec. "Oh, crap." He muttered and tried to adjust his jacket.

I grinned and looked up at him. "Don't worry, it's good practice."

He met my eyes, then. "What?"

"You know, for when you ask out Magnus." Izzy finished the thought and Alec rolled his eyes. I decided to take it upon myself to loosen him up a bit. I reached up and unbuttoned the top three buttons on his shirt while he protested.

"What are you doing?" He asked, trying to swat my hands away.

I scoffed. "I'm unbuttoning your shirt, what's it look like I'm doing?"

"Addi, this isn't really my department.."

Izzy sighed. "Come on, we do this sort of stuff all the time."

Alec glanced at Izzy. "You do, I don't."

"It's easy, "she assured him, "come on."

Alec took that as his cue and walked over to her. Izzy and I watched as he tried to flirt and struck out before trying a different approach. He'd purposely spilled her water before swiping her keycard and passing it to Izzy as we walked by. Alec made his escape to join us as we went to look for the gates to the breakers.

I went in with Izzy and watched as she runed the box open and shut off the lights. We left the building and waited outside anxiously for about ten minutes before Jace and Clary swarmed appeared along with everyone else swarming outside of the building.

"Did you get it?" Alec asked as soon as they were close enough.

"Theoretically." She replied.

"Theoretically?" He repeated and she huffed.

"Yeah, I found the card, I just have to figure out how I reached into my notebook before. It's not an exact science."

"Can't you just pull the Cup out?" He asked, dumbfounded.

"Theoretically, I just, it's not as easy as it looks, Alec." She snapped.

Jace was nervous. "Listen, you two can discuss theory as much as you want when we get back to the Institute but right now, considering we just stole from the cops, I think we'd better go."

"Agreed," I stated, watching the people.

Izzy's necklace had started going and she started to glance around. "Guys, I think the mundanes are the least of our worries."

"At least we know the demon necklace works," Alec commented.

"Never a dull day," Jace said and started walking with all of us behind him.

"Guys, slow down," Clary ordered, falling behind. I looked back and saw that she'd bumped into someone. I saw through it. It was a shape-shifter disguised as an old woman. "I'm so sorry," Clary said, bending down to pick up its purse. When she'd looked back up, the demon showed its real face and Clary had frozen, so I decided to help.

"Grandma," I called, gripping both of my daggers. When it turned around I stabbed one in its throat and the other in its stomach before it disintegrated.

Clary scrambled back to her feet with a horrified look on her face. "What the hell?"

"Language in front of Grandma." Jace jokingly scolded her once they'd all gotten back us.

"How did they find us?" Alec asked, searching around.

"I really don't think it would have been that hard," I said, twisting my daggers around in my hands. The 'cops' were getting out of the cars, staring at us. "She brought friends."

We started to walk away again, faster now. "How can you tell?" Clary asked.

"It's like seeing through a Glamour. You just gotta pay attention to the details." Jace said, not looking her in the eye.

"I can't 'see' anything." Clary insisted, looking for what we could see.

"Behind us," Izzy warned without turning around.

"I still can't see them!" She exclaimed and stopped in her tracks at the same time we did. They surrounded us. "Okay, there are too many people."

"I don't say this often, but I agree with Clary. We gotta get out of here." Alec said, searching for an opening.

"Hey, this way," Clary said and started down the concrete steps that led behind the building.

We got to a restricted door, and before Clary got an answer as to what the unlock rune was, Jace decided it was easier to kick the door in. "Open sesame."

We got down the stairs into what looked like a boiler room. We went to round a corner but when Jace noticed Alec wasn't following us, we stopped and he walked over to his Parabatai. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"I'm holding them off," Alec replied, readying an arrow. "Take Clary back to the Institute."

Jace shook his head. "No, if you're staying, I'm staying. We fight together."

Alec all but rolled his eyes. "Don't be stupid. If the demons get the Cup, we're dead, anyway."

"We're not leaving anyone behind." Jace's tone left no room for argument.

"You don't have a choice." Alec pointed out before Clary chimed in.

"Look, I know you guys are having a moment, okay, but we really have to go."

I was dumbfounded by Alec. "Absolutely not. I'm not going to leave you to fend off all of the demons when there are four of us who could be helping you. I'm staying with you."

He just shook his head again. "You will do more good with Clary, making sure she doesn't screw up and lose the Cup."

"Alec-" I tried to argue but he cut me off.

"No, Addi, I will be fine." He gave me a half-smile. "I'm trusting you to make sure that this isn't all for nothing."

I set my mouth in a thin line. Alec was stubborn. He was my best friend and he could never be talked out of something. I nodded and gave him a tight hug before I walked away, not looking back at him.

We'd covered quite a bit of ground before Clary needed to pause for a minute. "I'm sorry, guys."

"It's alright, we can take a breather." He said. Clary had her witchlight in one hand and was clutching the wall with the other.

"No, it's not that, I um..." She looked back and forth between the three of us.

I nodded in understanding. "We'll scout ahead."

"No, wait, um, I have to say something to you, too," Clary said and I raised my brows before nodding at Izzy to continue and walking back to Jace and Clary.

"What is it?"

"I'm sorry for all the trouble that I've put you through. Both of you." She said, looking the both of us in the eyes.

"You don't have to apologize to us, Clary," Jace assured her, shaking his head.

I nodded in agreement. "Seriously, it makes us kind of uncomfortable." I joked.

"Unfortunately, you can't stop me." She said without missing a beat and I couldn't keep myself from smiling.

"No kidding," I muttered with a slight laugh.

"Yeah, I'm starting to see that." Jace grinned.

"Just, I've been so focused on finding my mom, I don't think I realized how much you've done for me." She paused. "So, thank you."

I sighed. "Clary, she's our mom, and this got a lot bigger than just finding one person. We're Shadowhunters."

"It's kind of our job." Jace pointed out and started to walk away like a tough guy. I rolled my eyes and followed behind while Clary caught up.

"Your, your job?" She stuttered. "You guys would do this for anybody?"

Jace thought for a second. "Well, maybe not Simon." He joked. At that moment, it hit me.

"Oh, crap. Simon!" I pulled out my phone and saw that I had a missed call from him and a bunch of texts saying to call him back. I felt awful but I knew that I couldn't help him right now.

"What about him?" Clary asked, confused.

I shook my head, trying to seem nonchalant in case he didn't want his call to be public news. "I was supposed to call him back. It's okay, I'll explain to him later what happened."

"You know, you're not so bad yourself. You kicked some serious ass back at the police station." Jace pointed out.

"Or at least you got his ass kicked." I laughed at the memory of the vision. The both of them looked at me weird and then I remembered that we weren't supposed to have the purple stones. "Twin powers. I got worried and suddenly I could see you. I laughed my ass off when you slapped Jace." I explained, chuckling again.

"Well, thanks, I think." She said.

"Guys," Izzy called up ahead of us and we took formation beside her. "It's pulsing."

"Again?" Clary asked in disbelief.

"Getting close, let's spread out," Izzy said, and we started to, though I tried to stick close to Clary.

It was silent thought the necklace glowed from the demonic energy. It was silent until suddenly a Shax demon jumped on Jace from above. It took him a moment, but he killed it. Clary freaked out and ran to his side all while he wasn't fazed.

"Are you hurt?!" She exclaimed.

Jace just merely shook his hand off. "I'll live."

"What are those things?" She asked, looking at the spot where it disappeared.

"Shax demons, the bloodhounds of the Shadow World," Jace explained.

"Annoying little assholes," I muttered, thinking about past run-ins with them. "They've been tracking us."

"So what do we do?"

"The Institutes only a couple of blocks from here. We can't lose them but they won't be able to track us if we split up." Jace said, thinking fast.

I was already shaking my head. "No, absolutely not. I promised Alec before we left him that we would get the Cup back to the Institute. I'm not leaving Clary' side."

"Wait, but I-" Clary started to protest but I cut her off before she could get anything out.

"No, Clary. You will be fine. Izzy and Jace will draw them away and I will be right next to you. We can fend off whatever comes." I assured her.

"They're coming," Izzy warned

"No matter what happens just keep running," Jace ordered, him and Izzy poised to fight.

I pulled at her arm. "Let's go!"

"Jace, I-" She started to say something but couldn't finish.

"Run!" He yelled and we finally took off down the hallway, the sound of our friends fight fading behind us.

We came to a dead end and I saw Clary start to panic. I turned around and saw one demon appear and start running toward us, two more after it.

"Clary," I said, trying to get her to prepare for a fight. I looked over and she was holding the Cup card. "Clary," I said again as she reached into the card, retrieving the Cup."Clary!" She held the Cup out. It glowed with Angelic power and the demons snarled in want.

"Get back." She said, and the demon hissed, not moving an inch. "I said, get back!" She commanded it this time and meant it. The demons retreated one by one until they were nowhere in sight.

When it was done, she looked at me in disbelief, like she needed confirmation of what she just did.

I nodded, answering her silent question. "Yeah, you just did that. You just proved yourself to be a BADass Shadowhunter."

She smiled and her face turned into an expression of determination. I mirrored her look and we set off down the hallway in newfound confidence.

We ended up going back the way we came, but when we got the room we split up in, no one was there. "Jace? Jace?" Clary called.

I kept watching for anything threatening until Jace ran into the center of the room. He had kind of a large cut on his forehead. "Oh, are you okay?" Clary went to touch it but he shrugged her off like he didn't want her to be close.

"I'll live. Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, barely." She admitted.

"What happened?" He asked, his eyes trained on hers.

She shook her head and waved it off. "The Shax demons cornered us, but I got the Cup." She grinned in accomplishment. "I don't know, my instincts just kicked in and I could do it. Maybe you're right, maybe I'll be a Shadowhunter after all."

"Clary, you're amazing. I always knew you could do it." He said and then his face changed, almost like it was dulling. "Now give me the Cup and let's go."

I narrowed my eyes. That sounded weird. Why did Jace want the Cup? We were all together now, anyway. Then I thought I saw his eyes glimmer in a way that wasn't exactly natural. Suddenly, I remembered what Jace said earlier about focusing on the details. I concentrated on peeling away the layers of reality and I saw what was underneath the pretty face.

This happened fairly quickly. I thought about killing it and then decided to use it as a chance for Clary to learn how to see through the Glamour. Luckily, I was standing close enough to Clary that I could grab her wrist without 'Jace' noticing. I tried to communicate to her the memory of what Jace said. 'Focus on the details.' Then all I could think was, 'Trust your gut'.

When I let go of her wrist, only a few seconds had passed. She acted like nothing had happened, giving a soft chuckled and a hesitant face. "Give you the Cup?"

"Yes," he said, almost robotically. "Only until we get back to the Institute, it's the only way I can keep you safe." When Clary looked skeptical, he put in a little more effort. "I'll die before I let anything happen to you."

So will I, bitch. You'll die, anyway.

Clary smiled and reached into her bag. "Yeah, you're totally right," and just when I thought she was going to give it the Cup, she stabbed it with a Seraph blade and just kept pushing all the way up until the hilt of the sword.

She'd started to doubt herself when it didn't disappear off the blade. I stayed silent and watched as the fear and uncertainty crept onto her face until the thing disintegrate and she looked at me. She was shaken, and I could tell, but she didn't have time to recover before we heard more voices.

"Clary, Adrienne!" Someone called. Clary was startled and swung around with her blade ready. When I turned around, Alec and Luke were standing about ten feet away and Luke had his hands held out in protection.

"How do we know you're Luke?!" She yelled, panting as she tried to catch her breath.

I knew that we were fine. "Woah, Clary. Hang on. It's really them."

"I gave you spray paint for your birthday." He said and Clary slightly lowered her blade.

"Sick," I commented, slightly jealous.

"What happened?" He asked.

"Demons." She said. "Long story."

"Where did you come from?" I inquired.

"Jail." He muttered. "I ran into Alec. He said you might be down here, I thought you might want some help."

Alec glanced at the ashy remains of the demon and raised his brows, looking back at us. "Apparently not, looks like she took care of it herself."

I nodded with a grin. "Damn right, she did."

"Should we get going, or something? More demons could be coming, right?" She said, unsure of what to do next.

Luke held out his hand. "Oh, don't worry about it. I've got the pack on the lookout. If there are any other demons, we'll take care of them."

Clary smirked. "Look at you, leader of the pack."

Luke chuckled. "It has its perks."

"Shall we?" She asked, and we nodded before heading out and above ground.

When we had finally gotten back to the Institute, we walked into the main room where Jace was giving orders to find me and Clary.

"Alright, listen up. I want this entire Institute on high alert. I don't care what anybody else says, I'll take full responsibility. Right now, the twins are the only thing that matters.

"Jace," Clary called as we stood on the stairs together. His eyes went straight to her and she made a beeline toward him, hugging him tightly before looking up at him. "I did it. I got the Cup."

Jace scrunched up his face. "I don't care about the Cup. When I got out of the tunnels, I didn't see you and I was worried something might have happened."

"It was a demon. A shapeshifter, it looked just like you."

"Are you okay?" Jace asked her, and I knew he meant more than just physically.

"Yeah, I'm fine. It pays to have a sensible twin by my side." She glanced at me with a meaningful look and I gave her a nod and a smile before her gaze returned to Jace.

Jace smiled and continued. "And the demon?"

Clary smirked before replying. "I sent him straight back to hell."

Damn right, she did. I couldn't help but be proud of her.

Jace paused. "How'd you know it wasn't me?"

Clary just shook her head, not giving much away. "I just knew."

"Really? Kind of a risk, wasn't it?" He asked, a smirk playing on the edges of his mouth.

She looked down for a second. "Well, this May come as a surprise, but I do listen to some of the things you tell me. You just have to pay attention to the details."

"Yeah, well, I told you the first time we met. You have the Sight. You're a Shadowhunter, just like the rest of us." He barely got his words out before Clary pulled him down to kiss him.

The moment was intense, and I felt the need to look away. When I did, Alec looked uncomfortable and Izzy looked sympathetic for her brother. I grabbed Alec's hand, but his expression didn't change. He just let his hand slip out of mine and walked away. I stood there with Izzy, against the railing until she walked away, too.

At that moment, I wasn't sure what to do. The day had ended too easily, almost like there was something missing.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the original words, characters or storylines in this story. They belong to Cassandra Clare and the writers of Shadowhunters. I only own my own character and ideas.

Okay, well, there you have it. That one took a bit longer to get up because everyone was all over the place, but low and behold, it's done. I hope you enjoyed it and I would love it if you could favorite and review with your own thoughts and ideas. It would mean the world to me. Until next time!  
-Red


	8. Chapter 8

The next day, I was watching Jace and Clary flirt with each other while Alec studied the big screen in the main room.

"What if, what if I hadn't brought the Cup out in time? That demon-" She was saying when Jace interrupted her.

"But you did. The first rule of Shadowhunting, when something explodes, just keep walking. Never think twice, never look away." Jace said, standing extremely close to her, the Cup between them. I cocked my head, thinking for a second that he may have said that last part wrong.

Clary smiled. "Now what's the second rule?"

He hadn't replied when Izzy's whipped literally snaked around the Cup, pulling it out of Clary's grasp and landing in Izzy's hands. She smiled and looked at the Cup. "There's nothing a Shadowhunter can't do in heels."

Izzy walked down the steps to Clary and gave the Cup back while Jace talked to Alec. "Alec, what are you doing? You can stare at this monitor all you want, they need angel blood to get past the wards. No Downworlder can come into the Institute."

"Not without an Invite by a Shadowhunter," Izzy added, looking at the screens.

"You guys seem to forget that Valentine is a Shadowhunter," I commented, leaning back against the table and crossing my arms.

"The Cup is not safe here, we need to get it back to the Clave," Alec said, shooting a look to Clary.

Clary stood up and protested. "Back to the Clave? No, not after everything we went through to get it."

"My brother is right, the Cup is extremely important." Izzy agreed with a straight face.

"You're agreeing with me?" Alec asked, surprised.

Izzy just shrugged with a small smile. "Full of surprises."

I sighed, running my hands through my hair. "Izzy, no one is disputing that it's important. It's the most coveted object in the Shadow World."

"But this Cup is the one chance I have at getting my mom back." She said, glancing at me.

Jace crossed his arms. "I agree with Clary. We can't give the Cup to the Clave. Not now." Alec gave him a look. "We need it. It's our only bargaining chip."

The four of them simultaneously looked to me, like my opinion would break the tie. "Look, honestly, I think that as long as the Cup is in the tarot card, it's safe. Clary and Jocelyn are the only ones who can access it, and as of right now, only one of those people are conscious."

"See? I-" Clary went to speak again but I held out a finger to slow her down and continue with the rest of my thought.

"However, even if the Cup is safe in the tarot card, that doesn't necessarily mean that we are or that the Insitute is. Not everyone knows that the Cup is trapped until someone retrieves it, and if they ever found out that you and Jocelyn are the only people who are able to get it," I looked at Clary and tried to get her to understand, "who knows the lengths they would go to. Kidnapping, torture, murder... and I'm not talking about you, I'm talking about us. Jocelyn, Simon, Jace... People who mean something to you. You put everyone else at risk if you keep it here, whether or not they can actually get to it." I walked closer to her and put my hand on her arm. "You heard the same story that I heard when Magnus was telling us the histories. Valentine will murder millions to get the Cup, and you and I both know it." I looked at the other three, then. "I want to wake Jocelyn up, too, but I don't think the Cup should be here. I think we should give it to the Clave."

The room was silent for a minute. Alec's expression hadn't changed, Izzy was looking at the floor and Jace was gauging Clary's response when she spoke. "Look, I know how powerful the Cup is. It can create new Shadowhunters, control demons and even kill a mundane if they drank from it, but I promise you," she met all of our gazes. "I will not let that monster get his hands on it."

"There you go," Jace said, looking Alec and then at me, "you have her word."

Alec sighed deeply and walked up the stairs behind him. "Follow me."

When Alec took her to the tile that held her necklace, I started to panic. I hung back and silently hoped that they didn't notice my bracelet was missing.

Clary looked at the card and then at him. "Alec, I realize I couldn't have done any of this without your help. I want to thank you."

Alec took the card placed it on the little shelf before closing the tile again. "Don't misread this as friendship. Ever since you arrived our whole world's been turned upside down." Alec gave her a dirty look and walked away from her and passed me, out into the main room again. Clary turned around and saw me.

I crossed my and arms and stared at her. "I sincerely hope you know what you're doing." Then I walked away before she could say anything else.

As I walked down the stairs, I pulled out my phone and called Simon. What I'd said earlier had reminded me that I never called him back. I got his answering machine and sighed before leaving a message.

"Simon, hey. I'm sorry that I didn't get back to you yesterday. There was a lot going on, but the bottom line is that we found the Cup. I'll explain everything later, but right now I'm worried. Call me back, okay? I promise I will help you through whatever is going on with you." I hung up the phone and took a deep breath before stuffing it back into my pocket.

Just as Clary appeared at the top of the stairs to the media corner, the screens Alec was still looking at started to beep. It looked like a small red circle outside of the Institute, and I knew it couldn't be good.

"There's something outside of the perimeter," Jace said, pointing out the circle.

"I told you-" Alec started to gloat but Jace cut him off before he could finish. Izzy walked over to where we were standing to see it, too.

"What's happening?" Clary asked, unfamiliar with the situation.

Izzy sighed. "It looks like someone's trying to break in."

"Could be the Circle," I said, thinking of all the ways they could get into the Institute.

The four of us started to make our way to the front doors of the Insitute, getting ready to take on whatever was outside. Clary followed at our heels. I shrugged on my jacket while Clary grabbed a Seraph blade.

"Told you so." Alec rolled his eyes, shrugging on his own jacket while Jace did the same.

"Too soon." He replied.

I gripped my daggers in my hands tightly, ready for a fight. It was dark when we got outside and fog covered our feet. We spread out slightly, not seeing anything at first. Then, as it came closer, we all saw it. A silhouette of a man and he looked like he was carrying something.

"Don't move," Jace ordered.

Alec raised his bow at the stranger. "Drop what you're holding. Put your hands up."

When the man came close enough for the light to reach his features, I was taken aback. It was Raphael, the vamp from the night at the Hotel DuMort. What was in his hands was even more shocking and equally as horrifying. He was carrying a body, Simon's body.

"Oh, my God, Simon!" Clary exclaimed.

I couldn't say anything. I couldn't feel anything. They scurried around me, trying to figure out what to do until someone invited Raphael in with Simon's body. I hadn't realized that I was frozen until I felt Izzy grab my wrist to pull me inside.

We went to the Study. Raphael and Jace lay Simon down on a table and used a book to support his head.

"People will be wondering what we found outside the perimeter," Jace said, his voice solemn.

Alec was the farthest away, standing by the door like the scene made him uncomfortable. "I'll go. I'll tell them we didn't find anything." He glanced at Clary and then at me. "Nobody will come down here." Alec left and Raphael turned to face Simon on the table.

"I might be a vampire, but I was raised a good Catholic." He said, gesturing in the way of their religion.

I didn't realize that I was holding his hand until this point. It was cold and pale. I felt sick. "What the hell happened?" I all but yelled. Izzy looked at me and I saw her face filled with sympathy and then I felt even worse. Clary had known Simon for years upon years, and I couldn't stop thinking about terrifying it would be to live in a world without him in it. I couldn't imagine how she felt because it must have been even worse with this.

"The vampires breached the Accords. Killing Simon is grounds for war." Izzy stated.

Raphael jumped quickly to the defense of his kind. "The vampires were not behind this, just Camille. She attacked Simon on her own."

"How do we know you're even telling the truth?" Jace asked, crossing his arms in his stare-down with Raphael.

"I could have gotten rid of him," he pointed out, "but instead I brought him here. I don't want trouble with the Shadowhunters."

"Smart decision," Izzy said.

"I warned the mundane to stay away, but Camille gave him a taste of her own blood and like an addict, he came back wanting more." My head snapped up at his words.

Clary had lost it. "The only reason Simon had a chance to taste Camille's blood is because of you. You kidnapped him, you drug him to the Hotel DuMort, and you delivered him to Camille!" Clary as in hysterics but I couldn't look away from the monster in front of me to console her.

"You'll have to excuse us if we don't give you a freakin' metal for bringing back his body," I added, but I didn't say how it was my fault that nothing had happened sooner.

I couldn't stop thinking about it. If I had taken the time to talk to him, if I had called him back sooner, If I had taken him more seriously... Maybe it wouldn't have been too late.

Raphael looked between the two of us, a serious sincere look on his face. "I never meant for this to happen."

Clary let it go and looked back at Simon's face, tension-free and relaxed. He looked like he could have been peacefully sleeping. Then Clary started to sob. She begged Simon to wake up but nothing happened. Nothing ever would.

Raphael spoke again, then, with a voice that said nothing and everything at the same time. "There is a way."

"A way, what?" Jace said menacingly.

"A way to bring Simon back." He clarified, glancing at everyone in the room.

"You can do that?" Clary asked incredulously, hope already creeping back into her voice.

I held up a hand for her to slow down. "How the hell would you do that?"

"He's a fledgling," Raphael explained, "It's in a state of transition. Your friend can be resurrected."

Everyone seemed to know what he meant except Clary and Jace and Izzy immediately rejected the idea.

"No."

"Clary, no."

Clary just looked at Raphael. "So, I can have Simon back?" Raphael nodded.

"Clary, hold on." I knew what he was getting at and she wasn't going to like it.

"Alive and breathing?" She clarified.

"That's just it," Izzy said, a serious look on her face. "He won't return alive or breathing. He'll be a vampire."

"And not the sexed-up romantic kind," Jace said, "The ugly, bloodsucking coffin-dwelling kind."

"That's offensive," Raphael commented.

Jace just shot him a look. "Really?"

Raphael leaned up against the chair. "Coffin implies wooden box, we have caskets now. They're made of 14-karat gold."

"My bad," Jace said sarcastically.

I decided to speak up. "Clary, I know Simon. He's sweet and innocent. He loves life. If you turn him into a vampire, you will be taking away everything he loves. I don't want him to hate himself and I don't want him to hate you."

She looked at me in misery. "What the hell do you know about Simon? You've known Simon a few days, I've known Simon for as long as I can remember, and I know him well enough to know that he's not ready to die and say goodbye to his family and his friends. What you want right now doesn't really mean much." She shook her and gritted her teeth as she talked to me. "You said yourself that it is your fault that this happened. You could have called him back, you could have paid more attention to him." I furrowed my brow in confusion and I felt the tears well up in my eyes. She tapped her temple with her finger, giving me a harsh smile. "Yeah, I heard you thinking about it. You could have told someone that something was wrong. You could have told _me_. This is your fault."

I felt like I'd been punched in the stomach and I felt tear after tear run down my cheeks. Izzy looked at me like she would have looked at a dog that had been kicked, and Jace turned toward me as Clary stood over Simon. He reached up to put his hand on my arm.

"Addi, she doesn't-" I didn't let him finish his thought before I was out of that room. I wanted to leave the Institute, but the only place I would have gone was Simon's and, obviously, that wasn't an option. I settled for just going to my room.

When I got inside I shut my door, runing it shut along with the windows. I didn't want to talk to anyone. All I wanted to do was go back to that phone call with Simon and help him.

I pulled out my phone to the last voicemail I'd gotten from him.

"Addi, I really need to talk. I think I'm turning into a vampire. I'm scared." I closed my eyes, more tears falling, and for the first time ever, I really wished I had my mom. I decided to do the only thing I could do to comfort myself. I grabbed a pen and my notebook, and I started to write, but instead of writing everything that happened, I wrote what I wished had happened.

I wrote about the phone call at the precinct and I wrote about how I wish I had left that day to help him. I wish he'd told me everything and I wished we'd had a chance to talk about what we could do. It was like I could imagine how everything would have changed if I had just been there, and suddenly I realized I was seeing it as I wrote. I got glimpses.

Simon saying goodbye to all of us because he'd chosen to die rather than to be undead.

Simon's grave next to Elaine's because she couldn't bear the thought of never seeing her son again.

Clary grieving her best friend, never letting go. Becoming obsessed with killing Camille because she was the one responsible. Clary dying in the process.

Jace going after Valentine alone to save his one true love's mother, but not having the heart to go through with killing her father.

Alec mourning his parabatai.

Izzy falling into depression at the thought of losing her adopted brother.

I saw myself then. Visiting his grave every day. Bringing him flowers every day. Becoming sick, and eventually going insane from the guilt eating me up inside knowing I could have done something to help.

When I snapped out of it, the journal had become so hot that it left blisters on my fingertips. I was gasping for breath and the page burst into flames. I threw it onto the floor and sat there, stunned, as that page burned to nothing and left sitting in front of me was my journal open to the next blank page.

"What the hell?" I heard a voice at my door. When I looked up, Alec was staring at the floor, having just witnessed the same bizarre scene.

I shook my head, not knowing what to say. "I don't know, I... I don't know." I focused on Alec. He stood in my doorway, and I was instantly annoyed. "Okay, I realize that you have the ability to unlock my door, I just thought maybe you'd have the courtesy to not do it. I don't want to see anyone right now."

"Look, Izzy told me what Clary said to you. It isn't all your fault. The vamps wanted the Cup, they were going to try to get it regardless of whether it was Simon or something else to threaten Clary. This is on them." He said, sitting down next to me. "I know how you think. You have to stop blaming yourself, especially for this." I put my head down and it was silent for a moment before he murmured, "I know how you feel about him."

My head raised back up slowly. "What?

"Simon," he said, "I know you like him. I know that that's why this is hitting you so hard."

I didn't know what to say to that. "I don't understand what you mean."

"After that day at Magnus' with Luke, you went to check on Simon before you came to the Institute. He's the only person you never talk about and he's also the first mundane that you've had any interest in since Dylan." Alec's voice was gentle, and I knew that he was trying not to walk on eggshells when he said his name.

I closed my eyes. I could see him in my mind's eye, and it made my heart hurt. "I don't want to talk about him."

"You never do, and I get that, but I think it's unhealthy not to." He said quietly. I knew he was trying to help in his own way, but I couldn't do it.

"What, Alec? What about not talking about someone who is never coming back is unhealthy? It hurts." I felt a tear run down my cheek and quickly wiped it away. "I loved him and he died. I am never going to see him again. He's not coming back, and now every time I look in the mirror, I see the person I was a year ago. The person who was too selfish to be there for someone who needed me to protect them, and now?" I met his eyes and I couldn't speak without letting out a sob. "Now it is happening _all over again_."

I fell apart, and Alec wrapped his arms around me. I couldn't do anything but cry into his shoulder. He didn't say anything, he just let me sit there and cry until I found the strength to stop. I had finally sat up, wiping under my eyes and taking deep breaths. Alec stood up and walked into my bathroom. I heard the water run for a second and when he came back out he gave me a warm washcloth.

"Thank you," I said and blotted under my eyes until the dark marks were gone. He silently got up again and walked across the room to where my jacket hung on a chair and he threw it to me. I caught it and he just gave a look.

"You are strong. You give your life every day to protect people who need it. You are not selfish. You are a Shadowhunter, and right now Simon needs you to be there to help make the decision that he won't be able to make." With that, he walked out of the room.

I knew he was right, and I knew that I needed to be there. I also knew that Clary didn't really mean what she said. I could feel it, like a small voice in the back of my mind telling me to suck it up and be where I needed to. I stood slowly and shrugged on my jacket, sticking my daggers in the holsters on my waist and walking out of my room. I knew where they'd be.

I'd made it to the main room and I saw Alec talking to Max but just as I'd joined them, the Institute doors opened and in walked the one person I never wanted to meet.

When Alec had looked over and seen Valentine, we reacted at the same time in the same way. It was instinct, and as quick as lightning I threw a dagger at his stomach and Alec shot an arrow at his head. He caught both in each hand, and he didn't reach for a weapon, but a stele. He held out his arm and activated a rune that I didn't quite have time to recognize.

Right before my eyes, Valentine Morgenstern morphed into a pretty and professional-looking blonde woman who had no problem looking at us with eyes full of disdain. "That reaction time was abysmal." She sighed, but then zeroed in on the two of us. "Except for you two." She gave a small smile, one that didn't seem so kind. "I'm Lydia Branwell, envoy from the Clave."

"Oh, crap," I whispered. Apparently, Lydia wasn't so interested in us because she walked right by us and turned to the screens, but not before she saw Maryse and told her who she was.

"Maryse, the Clave has ordered me to take temporary control of this Institute." She explained, looking around at everything.

Maryse went to meet her immediately. "Wait, nobody informed us-"

"The Clave doesn't need to," She said. "and to repeat myself, it's temporary. Nothing's been decided yet, but I do need full clearance in order to assess how this Insitute has been running."

I already didn't like her. I crossed my arms, making sure to show on my face just how unwelcome she was.

"Well, Clary-" She started and I held up my hand to shut her up.

"I'm not Clary." I crossed my arms back. "Adrienne Fairchild."

She nodded slowly, looking me up and down. "I see, I wasn't aware that Clary Fairchild had a sister. You weren't in the Clave's records."

"It's good to know that the Clave had the same misconception I had for the longest time. I've been going by Lightwood since Jocelyn Fairchild dropped me on the Insitute's doorstep." I explained.

"How old were you?" She asked. I wanted to tell her it wasn't any of her business, but I knew that whatever I said to this woman would reflect on the Lightwoods so I decided to just answer her.

"I was eight," I told her.

She cocked her head to the side. "You didn't ask why?"

"I didn't know any better." I shot back. "My memories were taken, as were my sister's. Who, by the way, is in the field, training."

She seemed to drop my family history. "You're telling me she's just... Out and about? On the streets of New York? Valentine's daughter."

"I'm Valentine's daughter." I reminded her, narrowing my eyes. "She's just as trustworthy as I am."

"I'm afraid not," she said, walking around, "she was raised a mundane in an environment that we know nothing about. You were raised in the New York Insitute where we can ensure that you've never had any contact, relationship or allegiance to your father."

"She was raised as a mundane because Jocelyn was in hiding, and she wanted to be sure we weren't found. She's never even met Valentine." This woman was pissing me off.

"Yes, and if that was true, why weren't you raised a mundane. Why didn't Jocelyn Fairchild run off with the both of you?" She asked in a way that was almost condescending like she wanted to mess with me.

"When I figure it out, I'll let you know," I said in a snarky tone. "Besides, she's with Jace."

"The same Jace Wayland who decided to lead an unsanctioned raid against the vampires?" She asked rhetorically. "I've read the reports."

"Jace might be unconventional but he's our best soldier. If he's with Clary, she's in good hands." Maryse followed Lydia as she walked and then Lydia turned around to face us all.

"I hope so, and for your sake, all of New York, all of your jurisdiction better be well protected."

Fifteen minutes later, Alec Izzy and I had received a text from Luke. Images of an attack there and we were going to tell Maryse. Lydia was still with her.

Izzy was looking at Lydia in annoyance as we walked toward them. "Not a fan."

"Jealous?" Alec asked, looking at his sister.

"No," Izzy said, fixing the collar of her dress, "maybe. How the hell did she catch those weapons?"

"I wouldn't be jealous. Bitch." I muttered.

When we reached them, Alec immediately got to the point. "I have something you need to see." A picture of a body appeared on the screen. "Something attacked the Jace Wolf."

Maryse was concerned. "The werewolves' headquarters, where did you-"

"Where did you get these?" Lydia interrupted her, asking the same question that Maryse was two words from finishing.

I gritted my teeth as Alec answered. "The leader of the New York wolf pack."

Lydia raised her brows with a look of surprise. "You're friends with Lucian Graymark? An ex-Circle member?"

Maryse tried to remain nonchalant. "How about we send these three to investigate? I'm sure this is linked to-"

Once again, Lydia interrupted her. "Valentine. I need to see for myself." She turned quickly, whipping her stupid blond ponytail behind her before looking back at Alec. "Are you coming or what?"

Alec rolled his eyes when she turned around and followed her. I really didn't know what to do at this point. Jace texted me and told me that he and Clary had gone to Simon's house to talk to his parents and as much as I wanted to be there, I knew it was just freak her out to find out that Clary and I were twins.

I wasn't going with Alec and Lydia because I could only stand so much of her and I knew Alec could handle himself.

Then I contemplated going to the river. I hadn't been there in so long, and I knew that going there wouldn't change anything right now, but I needed to talk to him. I needed to be near him.

I didn't tell anybody that I was leaving. I walked for almost an hour before I reached our bench. The sun shone on the river and made the water sparkle. It reminded me of his eyes. I looked down next to me at the spot where he usually sat. I ran my fingers over the engraving, Dylan Parks, RIP. I wouldn't cry here.

I never brought anyone here. It was our place. I took a deep breath. "Hey, Dyl. It's been awhile, huh?" I took another deep breath and went on.

"I know I should have visited sooner, it just hurts to come back here. It hurts to miss you, and I do. Every day. So much has happened, so much I wish I could tell you about. I have a sister. I know, crazy, right? She's my twin and she looks exactly like me. She came into my life a few weeks ago and nothing has been the same, because... Someone else came with her. A boy. His name is Simon, and he kind of reminds me of you. I wish you could meet him... Actually, I guess you might. Something happened to him, Dyl. I might lose him. I can't lose him like I lost you. " I paused and for a second, I just sat in silence before I continued. "I wish you were here. I need your advice. I need you." I closed my eyes and I could see him in my mind. His hair was a deep, mahogany brown and his eyes were the type of blue that changed the way you felt about all the other colors. I thought about his laugh, the one that always cheered me up. I thought about all the times we talked in the middle of the night about nothing and everything. I prayed so hard for him to be here.

Nothing happened, nothing ever did. I didn't know why I always expected something to change. You can't bring back the dead without some kind of evil magic. I wouldn't take that risk on Dylan's soul. All I could do was miss him and imagine what he would say to me right now.

"Renne," Dylan would say, laughing at my hard-headedness, "everything will always be fine in the end. If it's not fine, it's not the end."

Despite all my efforts not to cry, a single tear slipped down my cheek. I kissed my fingers and brought them down to his name, touching the engraving softly before getting up and walking away. I took a cab back to the Insitute, not having the energy to walk back or the heart to activate an energy rune.

When I got to the Insitute, Izzy'd texted me that the body was here from the Jade Wolf. I needed to talk to Clary, but she wasn't back from Simon's mom's so I decided to check out the body.

Before I was inside, I heard Alec and Ms. Bitchwell talking. "...No, not at all," Alec was saying. "Magnus is, um, quite magical. He's, uh, very... Very good at magic." I had to snicker at Alec's attempt at being nonchalant.

They didn't look up when I walked in, Lydia just asked Alec, "Do you know him well?"

Alec shrugged like it was no big deal. "Just a little."

Lydia actually cracked a smile then. "I actually can't wait to meet him. Did you know that my great ancestor, Henry Branwell, who was the last of the Branwells to run an Institute and Magnus Bane invented the portal?" She said it like someone had just discovered how to time travel. Nerd.

Alec didn't find it so exciting. "No, just add that to the list of things I didn't know." He started to walk away from the table and at that point, I spoke up.

"Woah, hey," I grabbed his arm to stop and he turned toward me. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." He said in a short tone and continued to walk behind the plastic curtain and out of view. Lydia followed him and I could hear their conversation.

"Alec," she sighed, "I'm sorry. You shouldn't have had to find out your parents were ex-Circle members. Not like that." Oh, crap. Didn't see that one coming.

"You mean from you." He replied unpleasantly. "You shouldn't have been the one I found out from.

Lydia tried to defend them. "You know there's been a ban on talking about the Circle until now."

Alec scoffed. "Yeah, how convenient for my parents."

"This doesn't change how I feel about the Lightwoods." She insisted. "Your family has always had a strong alliance with mine. They've been a powerful force in the Shadow World and praised for there devotion."

"Devotion?" He repeated, in disbelief. "My parents were in league with Valentine."

"People make mistakes." She said softly.

"Not this one. It's unforgivable."

I heard his footsteps walk away and Lydia left shortly after. It made me wonder. I have no bond with either of my parents. Alec does, and he thinks that them being ex-Circle members in unforgivable. Does it make me a bad person if I don't Jocelyn to what she did? I would obviously have no relationship with Valentine, but I guess I'd assumed that I would get to know Jocelyn once we found a way to wake her up. Maybe I was letting her off the hook too easy...

Just as I'd looked up through the window and noticed the sun going down, I got a text from Jace that said he, Clary and Raphael were with Simon and I needed to be there. They were in the dark room where they first brought his body. When I walked in, they all looked up. They could have been seeing anything. Today was rough and I hadn't put in an effort to look like it wasn't. Clary stood up and walked over to me.

"Hey, um, can I talk to you?" She asked me, doing the same nervous neck-rubbing thing that I do.

I nodded slightly. "Sure."

We stepped a few more feet away, though I was sure it didn't matter. They would still be able to hear us. "Look, Addi, all that stuff I said earlier today about it being your fault... I shouldn't have said it. I shouldn't have made you feel any worse than you already did and I know you only want the best for Simon, just like me."

"I do," I agreed. "Clary, Simon has become very... Important to me. I never wanted anything bad to happen to him."

"Well, me neither. I also know that there is a reason he called you and not me. You're obviously important to him, too, and I want you to be here. I need you to help him through this with me." She said, resting her hand on the top of my arm.

"I'm here," I said in reply. She smiled and I half-hugged her before we walked over to Jace and Raphael.

"The sun is setting," Raphael said ominously and glanced between the two of us. "Have you decided?"

When Clary looked at me, I nodded at her to let her know that I would support whatever she decided. Fifteen minutes later, were in the graveyard.

Raphael stopped us in an empty spot fit to dig Simon's grave. Jace set Simon down gently on the grass and I grabbed Clary's hand. "You sure you wanna do this?"

She nodded. "Simon isn't ready for this. He wouldn't want to die, yet."

I took a deep breath. Jace and I heard the rustling in the night at the same time and at lightning speed, my daggers were in my hands and ready to be thrown. I knew we weren't alone, and I was right.

Camille appeared out of nowhere with no shame. She smirked at us as we were ready to attack her.

Clary spoke first. "What are you doing here?"

She tilted her head slightly and spoke slowly. "I want my property back."

"If you think Simon is your property, you've got another thing coming." I laughed harshly.

She took no regard to what I said. "If you'll just hand him over, I'll be on my way."

"You heard Addi, you're not laying a hand on him," Jace spoke in a firm voice.

"Fine," She said, looking straight at Jace. "I tried to this the nice way." She snapped her fingers and twenty-five more vamps appeared all around her.

"I'm glad you brought everyone here to witness your demise," Raphael said, all cocky. "Camile killed this mundane. Now, I have all the proof. She's been breaking the Accords for too long, now." Raphael gestured to Simon on the ground. "He's the evidence we need to show the Clave what Camille has been doing."

Camille chuckled pathetically. "Are you trying to overthrow me?"

"No," he answered, "I already have."

"Don't listen to him!" She told the vamps who moved closer to her. "He doesn't know a thing about leading. You need me, I've given you everything you could want. All the riches, all the pleasures you could desire..."

"By breaking the law," he pointed out, gritting his teeth and showing his fangs, "which will only destroy us."

"We can fix this!" She insisted. "If we just get rid of the body, this mundane means nothing."

"Like hell he does." I hissed and Clary surprised me when she walked forward, stopping right in front of Camille.

"Means nothing?" She repeated. "Over my dead body." Then she punched Camille in the face. Like, literally punched her in the face. I couldn't believe it. Then she walked away with a smug smile and the vamps surrounded Camille and disappeared with her.

Raphael walked over to stand in front of us like nothing happened and held a stake in one hand and a shovel in the other. "Alright. Which shall it be?"

Clary looked at me and with a single tear slipping, she reached out and took the shovel. I closed my eyes, dreading this. I didn't want Simon to hate himself if he were to wake up after losing himself or because he thinks he damned himself by becoming a vampire, but I bit my tongue. There wasn't anything I could do but watch her dig until she was done.

Eventually, she did finish. I kneeled with her beside Simon as she spoke her final words before she changed him forever. She lay a cloth over him and she told him that she would always think of him as the man he was no matter what he became.

When she was finished, she glanced at me to let me know that I could speak mine, too. "Simon, I haven't known you very long, but I do know that I feel like you've been here forever. I think we were meant to meet, and I will always hold you high. I know that no matter what happens, I will stick by your side."

Raphael walked over to us from where he stood by Jace. We stood up and let him move Simon into the grave. Clary held on to Jace, hugging him for support and she held my hand, letting me know that she was here for me just like I was there for her.

Once Raphael had lowered him down, I picked up the shovel so that, just like Clary had dug his grave, I could fill it again. It was unbelievably painful to bury Simon, and I could make it through the first filled shovel before I fell apart, sobbing as I tried to bury him. I felt arms around me and I knew that Jace was telling me he was there, hugging me for a second before taking the shovel to bury Simon so that I didn't have to. Clary hugged me tight and I hugged her even tighter in return. We both radiated the same emotions, and it was then that I realized that I had been numb. I'd been numb all day and I'd been numb for the past year, afraid to mourn the person I was afraid to try to live without, then and now. I wanted to avoid my emotions, I wanted to avoid this.

It didn't take Jace long to finish it, and we sat on the ground by the loosened dirt in silence, just waiting. "That mundane's a fighter," Jace said, trying to make us feel better, "he survived the vampires at the Hotel DuMort. He survived the werewolves at the Jade Wolf. He survived Accounting... For whatever that's worth."

Clary gave a soft smile. "He is a fighter, isn't he?"

I picked the grass out of the ground beside me, not looking up. "Except the one thing he didn't survive... Being friends with us." I looked up at Jace with a heartless smile. "I told you mundanes and the Shadow World didn't mix."

Jace furrowed his brows. "Wait, Addi. You have to remember that Simon isn't Dylan. Dylan died because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but Simon was always in that horrible spot and he always managed to survive. He's a fighter, and he's not gone for good."

Clary touched my arm. "Wait, who's Dylan?"

Words couldn't describe how much I didn't want to talk about this right now, not with Simon six feet under, so I did the one thing for her that I couldn't do with anyone else. I looked into her eyes and I replayed everything in my head. Everything from the time I was twelve years old to the day after my seventeenth birthday when Dylan died. I thought about the dates we went on, the conversations we had and I thought of his face. What he looked like and how he acted. Then I thought of the first time we'd kissed, under the lemon tree in his backyard. I thought about how he was the first person I'd ever sung for, the first person who never judged me for the runes on my skin or the job I had. I thought about the converation I'd had with him about the Shadow World, no matter how much it was against the rules to tell him. Then I thought about the night he'd gotten a little too mixed up with people he couldn't keep up with. The party I'd brought him to full of Downworlders who didn't care that he was a mundane, the party that had gone wrong.

Then I thought about his funeral. The shiny blue casket, his mom sobbing next to me. I thought about the fact that I'd never cried. I'd never let myself feel anything. I was numb for the longest time until Simon came into my life.

I snapped out of my thoughts then, looking at the expression on Clary's face. There were sympathy and understanding, and she never said anything. She just held my hand and I had never been more grateful to not have to use my words to express how I felt.

She sighed then, looking between me and Jace. "Look, I know you two think emotions cloud judgment. The story about your falcon and you not letting yourself grieve over the loss of someone you loved more than anyone else." She called us out, looking at us as she did. "I don't know how to understand it because it all contradicts the first rule of being mundane."

"What's the first rule of being a mundane?" Jace asked, crouching next to her.

"It's that love makes you stronger." She took another deep breath. "It was my mother's love for us that made her betray Valentine and steal the Cup. It's love that makes you fight harder for what you want."

I couldn't help but think of Simon. I know she meant general love for the people she cared about, and I did love Simon. I couldn't imagine life without him at this point. He was family. I wasn't going to stop fighting for him now.

No one said anything else as we heard the crack and felt the ground begin to shake. Quickly, we stood up as the ground rumbled and abruptly stopped. Raphael appeared out of nowhere with a duffel bag. I could guess what was in it.

Suddenly, it was like someone had turned on a hologram to Simon's grave. It happened so quickly that it was like he flickered in and out of existence. His hand, his arm, his head, his neck all emerged. He clawed his way to full freedom and I caught of a glimpse of his fangs as he gritted his teeth with the effort to breath.

"Simon?" I asked, unsure of whether he could gather his thoughts just yet.

"Simon, it's me. It's Clary." She said, trying to step a little closer but jumping back as he hissed and snapped at her.

Raphael held two blood bags in his hands. "Once reborn, you emerge, hungry." He threw them at Simon and he devoured them like an animal... Like a monster. "Very hungry. Drink up."

When the blood was gone, he gasped and panted before his eyes settled on us. "Clary? Addi? What's happening?"

"You, um," Clary struggled to get the words out. "You died."

"I what?"

"You died, Simon." I told him begrudgingly. "You're undead, now."

He saw the blod bag in front of him and gasped, throwing it away from him. "That's blood." He gasped and spit. "Oh, my-"A cough. "Oh my-" Spit. "Why can't I say-?" He sputtered some more.

"God," Raphael said, rolling his eyes. "It'll take some time to regain the ability. There's a lot you'll need to learn."

Simon was in shock and tried again. "Oh my-" but didn't get anywhere. "Damn it! Am I... Am I a vampire?"

I nodded in pain for him. "Yeah, Simon. You're a vampire."

"Please, Addi, Clary, tell me this isn't real, you guys. Tell me this isn't happening!" He was freaking out and all we could do was feel bad.

"I'm sorry," Clary said, tears rolling.

I shook my head. "Simon, I'm so sorry."

He shuddered, tears forming and he screamed. "I'm, I'm repulsive!"

Clary shook her head, quickly denying it. "Simon, no. Don't say that, please. You're still the Simon I've known my whole life."

I chimed in, agreeing with her. "The same Simon who changed mine."

"The Simon who loves sci-fi,"

"and who pays attention to detail,"

"and who can recite every line from every Nicolas Cage movie."

I had tears falling now. "You're the same Simon who risked his life to help a girl he barely knew."

"You're the same Simon who carried me over the Brooklyn Bridge when I lost my shoe, okay?" Clary blubbered. "Listen-"

"No," He yelled in protest. "Guys, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are! You're the same Simon, you're my best friend!" Clary tried to get through to him.

"You're my person," I said, shrugging my shoulders with nothing left to say.

He looked at me with misery in his eyes. "I'm nothing more than a monster."

"No, Simon-" Clary tried again.

"No! Okay, just stay away from me. Please, stay away." He begged, and then he was gone. He ran away with his newfound speed and he was gone.

Raphael looked at us, but I just stared at the empty spot where Simon had stood. "I'll look after him, okay?" Then he disappeared, too.

I shook my head and closed my eyes, wishing we could take it all back. "Oh, what did we do?" I whispered. Clary glanced at me with tear-filled eyes and I repeated it again, knowing I didn't need an answer. "What did we do?"

I knew what we did. We turned a mundane into a monster, and there was no going back, now.

Disclaimer: The original words, characters, and storylines in this story do not belong to me. They belong to Cassandra Clare and the writers of Shadowhunters. I only own my own characters and ideas.

Okay, so that was that. The story of Dylan was finally revealed... Even if only partially. *wink* Well, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and if you did, I would love for you to review and favorite because I need your thoughts and ideas about what should happen next! If they get used, you will get credit in a shoutout! I love you all and until next time!

-Red


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

We'd been running for a while, searching for him. I'd left him thirteen texts and six voicemails, and I still hadn't gotten anything back. This is exactly what I was afraid would happen. He could be anywhere, quite literally doing anything. He was capable of so much more than before, and he wasn't in his right mind right now.

Jace, Clary and I started to slow down when we saw Raphael. He was muttering something about Simon ruining another jacket when we caught up to him.

"Where is he?" Clary asked frantically, breathing hard.

"He'll be back," Raphael assured us.

Jace made a face. "You just let him go? You said you'd look after him."

"I can't do that until he's ready," Raphael said cryptically.

I threw my hands up because I was so not in the mood for his games. "What the hell does that even mean?"

"It means that he's where everybody goes when this happens." He replied. "His own personal hell."

Clary shook her head with guilt all over her face. "I did this. I put him here."

"No, we did. This is on the both of us." I didn't fight all the way through to stop her, but it didn't really matter who took the blame right now because Simon was still not here.

"If it helps, he doesn't even remember it was you. Those first minutes... Complete blank."

"We have to tell him the truth," I said, furrowing my brow in confusion at how there could be any other option. I wouldn't lie to him.

"Once you rein him in, he'll be walking, talking proof to the Clave that Camille broke the Accords," Raphael said with a smug smile. "In fact, as the new leader, I-"

"Are you freaking kidding me?" I exclaimed in disbelief. "That's what you're thinking about right now? I don't give a crap about your vampire politics, I just need to find Simon."

Clary definitely agreed with me. "We have to. He's out there, he's alone, scared... Hungry."

Raphael didn't seem to care. "Give me a call when he turns up. He'll need my help." He walked away without another word. I was stunned at the fact that he had literally no heart, despite the fact that he was a vampire.

"I think we've had about enough of your help," Jace muttered as Raphael walked away.

"Man, that guy is such an ass." I groaned and pulled out my phone.

Clary glanced at me. "What are you doing?"

"Getting reinforcements," I replied. "We're going to need some help."

The ringing stopped when he answered. "Hey, Alec, I need you."

 _"It's Izzy. We need you. There's been an attack at the Institute."_

"An attack?" I repeated, trying to process, then I decided to put the phone on speaker so that Jace and Clary could hear, too.

 _"Valentine created a forsaken that went through the wards."_

I cocked my head. "Izzy, that's not possible."

"Nothing can get through the wards. They're... They're warlock spells to defend against all Downworlders." Jace agreed.

 _"Not this one."_ She insisted. _"It had Seelie blood with angel properties. Guys, it went after Hodge and Alec."_

"Are they okay? Is Alec-" I asked immediately.

 _"They're banged up, but they'll live. Hodge killed it. It was after-"_

"The Cup." Clary and I locked eyes at the realization, and I was suddenly so angry I could barely think.

"Izzy, I'll be there as soon as I can," Jace said. I hung up the phone when she knew someone was coming and Jace looked at me.

"I can't. I have to find Simon." I said. "He needs me and I'm going to come home and help Alec as soon as I can." Jace scoffed and shook his head. "What?"

"So, Valentine attacks our home and hurts our friends and you're choosing to go help the mundane?" He asked in disbelief.

I was taken aback. "What? Jace, I can't-"

He held out a hand. "No, you know what? It's fine. I'm going to the Insitute." He didn't let me say anything else before he started running in the direction of the Institute.

"Damn it!" I yelled and started in the direction of the Jade Wolf. Clary followed me, and I was hoping I didn't have to make it obvious that I didn't want to talk to her.

"Addi, wait." She called, trying to catch up.

I stopped running and turned around to face her. "No, whatever you're going to say, I don't want to hear it. Okay?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for this to happen."

I stepped away from her. "I told you! Okay? I warned you that if you kept the Cup that Valentine would come for it. I told you that someone's life would be put at risk, but you didn't care. You made a selfish choice and now the Institute's been attacked and Alec's hurt, and you know what? I can't be there for him because I trusted you to make the right choice with Simon, and now he's gone, too."

Clary's mouth open and closed repeatedly but nothing came out. I shook my head and put my hands out in an attempt to stop her from talking. "Just don't say anything. I'm going to the Jade Wolf to see if Luke can help me track Simon. Come with me or don't, I don't really care, but don't talk to me. I don't want to hear it."

I started running in that direction and she ended up running beside me without a word. It didn't take long for us to get there, or for Luke to decide to help us when we did. Luke put blood bags in a cooler and Clary's incessant pacing was really pissing me off.

"Simon's going to hate me," Clary said, circling the floor.

I scoffed. "Simon can't hate you."

"Luke, I did a terrible thing." She said, not hearing me.

"It can't be undone." He said, following us to the door. "I found my way back, your mother helped me. When he understands that you're there for him-"

"How could he know that if we can't find him?" I asked, truly worried at this point. "You know what? I'm going to go to his house. We haven't checked there, yet."

Clary's eyes widened. "I didn't even think about going to his house. I'll come with you-"

"No." I stopped her. "Simon is going to be overwhelmed if we all show up there and his mom doesn't know that you have a twin. I'm going alone, and if his mom is there then I'll act as you."

Clary looked disgruntled. "I'm his best friend. He would want to see me first."

"Really? He'd want to see the person who made the choice to ultimately turn him into a monster? I'm going alone. He may not even be there; you and Luke can check somewhere else. I'll text you if I find him." I said. I didn't give either of them a chance to argue before I was on foot to his place. I ended up running and something told me that he would be there.

I didn't even bother knocking. I didn't care enough to. I walked down the hall and found his blue door. When I stepped inside, I saw Simon hugging his mom. It confused me for a moment. New vampires didn't usually have the control to do that, especially when they were as hungry as Simon must be. Then I looked a little closer.

Simon's face was dangerously close to his mom's neck, and I could see his fangs beginning to pop out. I panicked.

"Simon!" I yelled, scaring him out of it and startling his mother. She gasped and jumped away from him. His mom caught her breath and Simon stared at me.

"A-Clary." He started to say my real name and caught himself.

I nodded at him and glanced at his mom. "Hi, Mrs. Lewis."

"Hi." I could see that she was surprised and a little awkward, but then she saw Simon's expression. He looked terrified and I didn't know if it was of himself or of me. "Oh, are you all right?" When he didn't answer she directed her next question at me. "Doesn't he look pale to you?" He did. He was white as a sheet and he looked like he could cry but his eyes were open so wide that I wasn't sure if they'd ever shut again. Then, his mother noticed one of the many differences in his appearance.

"What happened to your glasses?" She asked, reaching up to touch his face before he smacked her hand away.

"Don't."

"He got contacts." I provided, trying to come up with anything but the truth. Simon was breathing deep and his mom got more serious than ever.

"Okay, someone needs to tell me what is going on here." She stated, looking between the two of us.

I stayed silent until he started to speak. "Mom, there something I need to-"

"-do for me." I finished for him, not letting him spill the truth. "You, um, you won't believe this, but I have a sister. A twin, as a matter of fact. She looks just like me. I haven't met her, yet, and Simon said that he would be with me when I did. Her name is Adrienne." I finished. Hopefully, it would kill two birds with one stone. I could stop acting as Clary after tonight and it would get him away from his mom.

"Oh." His mom said. She looked stunned at my news but it didn't change the fact that she was reluctant to let Simon out of her sight. "Well, Clary, as exciting as that is... I'm sorry but I don't think he's well enough to go-"

"Simon." I interrupted her protest, not letting it go. "We have always been there for each other."

Simon's eyes moved from me to his mom and back. "I don't know."

"Clary, I don't-" His mom started but I didn't let her finish.

"Simon," I said again. The look I gave him conveyed so many messages, though I wasn't sure if he understood them. "I need you to help me through this."

Simon stared at me for a moment. I couldn't help but want to be near him. I knew he needed to not be alone, and I knew that he wouldn't be able to tell his mom everything. I had to be here for him now and I hoped that he was going to let me. "Yeah."

His mom was taken aback at his word. "Are you sure, baby?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Um..." He wiped his face and started to walk past me toward his door. "You know how much of a hypochondriac I can be."

I turned around to leave with him, then, but his mother called, "Clary." I turned back at the sound of my sister's name. "You take care of my boy. You know how much he means to me."

"Yeah," I replied, glancing up at Simon, all pale skin, and brown eyes. "I understand. We should go." I wrapped my hand around his arm and he said goodbye to his mom.

"I'll see you later, Mom." He assured her.

"I'm holding you to that, and when you come home we're going to have a serious discussion about what is going on with you."

Simon processed her words and muttered, "Love you." I pulled at his arm and we walked out the door, leaving his mother behind.

Simon and I walked in silence while I texted Clary that she and Luke needed to meet us on the main road. Fifteen minutes later, we were there and so were they. We all walked slowly, side by side and the tension was thick enough to cut through.

"I feel sick," Simon said, holding an arm over his stomach.

"Don't worry," Luke said. "We'll get you what you need."

"I need this to stop."

"I'll get you through this," Clary promised.

"You can't." Simon insisted. "Clary, I was a regular guy. I had a life. A regular life, and today..." He stopped walking as he came to his conclusion. "I almost tore my mother apart." He glanced between the two of us. "What if I were to do that to one of you?"

"Simon, you won't." Clary tried to convince him, but it was like he had lost all hope of ever being good. I didn't say anything yet, deciding that what I needed to say to him should be said to only him.

Luke went to get the car and Clary tried to reason with Simon again. "Once you feed-"

"Feed? Are you kidding?" He laughed harshly. "That's what this is now? That's what my life's about? Like I'm in a zoo?"

Clary had this look on her face like she didn't know what else to say. I gave her an expression with a hint of 'I told you so' and she shrugged her shoulders in despair. "I'm... I'm so sorry."

"Why are you sorry? Raphael did this to me." When Simon said that, Clary locked eyes with me. I tried to send her a mental message.

 _You tell him or I will._

She nodded like she understood and faced Simon.

"Simon, it was my choice." She admitted, I crossed my arms as she explained. "You died. Raphael brought you to us. I had a choice. I could stake your heart or I could bury you and you could come back. I forced Addi and Jace to let me turn you."

Simon looked dejected and wouldn't meet her eyes. "Clary, why?"

"Because I love you, Simon." She said, tearing up.

"You call that love?" He asked. I could hear the resentment in his voice. "You brought me back to this. This... Nothing. Where I feed and I have to hide from the sun, and I can't bear to be by the people that I love? You ever think about that, Clary? How I would feel, what I would be?"

She looked like she was going to fall apart. "Simon, please understand-"

"Just stay away from me." Simon hissed.

Luke had come back, holding a bag of AB+. He tossed it to Simon and Simon caught it without flinching. "Just drink."

I nodded. "You'll feel a lot better than you do right now." Clary's phone rang and she walked away to take the call. I activated my hearing rune so I could be informed on what was happening. It was jarring. Lydia knew we had the Cup, and Jace was telling Clary to hide.

When Clary drew her anti-tracking rune, I activated my own. Luke was paranoid that the Jade Wolf would be the first place that the Clave would search for her and the Cup, so we ended up going to the one place with the one person no one wanted to see.

It seemed that he wasn't too happy to see us either, but that could have just been because of the circumstances. Raphael was pacing in reaction to everything we'd just told him. "Have you lost your mind? A Shadowhunter and a werewolf? You do know this isn't a hotel."

I cocked my head and made eye contact with Raphael before slowly looking up at the big sign above us that said in big block letters, 'Hotel DuMort'. I brought my gaze back to Raphael and raised an eyebrow. "I beg to differ."

"Technically it is." Simon agreed.

"Even starvation can't shut you up," Raphael commented, gritting his teeth in aggravation. I swear, if he wasn't the only vampire we knew and didn't want to kill, I would have smacked him. I was still thinking about it.

Clary got back to the original point. "Look, we just need someplace secure until we can figure out a plan."

Luke had already given up on this option. "These people never listen. Don't bother. Let's go."

"You should put a muzzle on that mutt," Raphael said, glaring at Luke. Then, he walked closer to Clary and got in her face. "The fledgling can stay, but you aren't exactly welcome after you barbequed half a dozen of my people."

"Let's go, please. I don't want any part of this." Simon begged as he grabbed my arm.

I gave him an exasperated expression. "Look, as much as I hate to say it, there really isn't any place else." I sighed and turned to Raphael. "Listen to me, Leech. It is partly your fault that Simon is in this mess. You owe him. You were with Camille the night you kidnapped him, and you need him back to prove that she broke the Accords. What good will he be if he dies of starvation?"

He looked past me to Simon, and I could see the contemplation on his face before he made his decision. "Fine, but the stray waits outside." He said, gesturing to Luke.

Luke towered over Raphael. He looked intimidating and I could see his eyes glow the bright green of a werewolf. "If anything happens to these three, you won't have to wait until sun up. I will kill you myself."

"Easy, Fido." Raphael's voice dripped with condescension. "They'll be under my protection."

I narrowed my eyes. "You'll have to forgive me if I don't find that very assuring," I muttered as we followed Raphael into the Hotel DuMort.

I was glad that we'd found somewhere that Simon would be safe, but I was still worried about what was happening at the Institute. I decided to call Jace, regardless of whether or not he was still pissed at me.

The phone rang four times before he picked up. _"Addi?"_

"Yeah. I wanted to see how things were going at the Institute. Is Alec okay?"

 _"Truthfully, I don't know. Ever since he found out that Maryse and Robert were Circle members... He's different."_

I sighed. "Yeah, that kind of news can mess a person up, I should know. What's going on?"

 _"They're trying to get Meliorn to talk about the bodies, but he hasn't said anything past Clary having the Cup. Lydia and Alec are putting him in a holding cell until he's transported to the Silent Brothers."_

"What?" Alec wouldn't do something like that. "They can't do that! To a Downworlder..." I trailed off and Jace finished for me.

 _"It could be a death sentence. Yeah, Izzy's reminded them of that."_

"Oh no... She must be freaking out." I said, imagining her losing Meliorn, broken up or not, was painful.

 _"She's not great right now. Lydia is going to single-handedly start a war with the Downworlders, and Alec is just gone. I don't know even know who this person is."_

I shook my head. "There has to be something else going on with them. I have to go, keep me posted."

 _"Will do."_ Then I heard the click of the phone being hung up and dial tone.

Raphael had led us into the room with the familiar gold furniture and exquisite paintings. Simon, Clary and I had walked over to look at one at the same time, and the next thing I knew, there was a metal gate trapping us into the space.

"This is your idea of protection?" Clary asked sarcastically.

"It keeps you away from my people and my people away from you." He smirked and nodded to Simon. "Give a shout when you're hungry. Of course, you do have a pretty decent snack right here, no?"

"Bite me." I hissed.

"My pleasure." He smiled, showing his fangs and then looked at Simon. "Though, I think he might enjoy it more." Raphael walked away and I could see Simon struggling to get a grip.

Clary and I were on the opposite side of the little area as Simon, but it still seemed like we were right next to him. "Clary, Addi... You do not understand how this is." Simon stared at Clary, "I can hear your heart beating." He moved his gaze to meet mine. "I can smell the blood in your veins, and I want it."

Clary sat down and wore a guilty expression. "Simon, I would not blame you if you-"

"What? Killed you?" His voice got louder as he got angrier. "Don't you understand anything?"

"No, I don't. I can't." She replied. "But there has to be a way for you to stay in this world. Maybe it was wrong and selfish... But my heart was breaking."

"Simon, I didn't want to let you turn," I told him, trying to keep it together. "I knew we should've let you die a peaceful death, but neither of us wants to live in a world without you in it."

"I thought I was a real Shadowhunter, but when it comes to you I am still just Clary Fray. You are still my best friend, and I would rather you tear me apart than watch you die again. Starving and angry-"

"Raphael!" He yelled. The stupid vamp appeared instantly with a smug look on his face.

"You ready?" He asked, and Simon just nodded. Raphael poured the blood into a garnished glass. It was almost pretty like it could have been a smoothie off of a commercial for a blender. Simon hesitated for a moment and then down it before Raphael poured him another.

"It's all about presentation and quality produce. You see, us vampires look after one another." Raphael gave me a pointed look as he took the empty glass from Simon. "We take care of our family."

"Simon already had a family," I told him, fighting the urge to stick my tongue out.

"Had a family." He insisted. "That's all going to change now. You're a Shadowhunter, he's a vamp. You two will never be equals." He gave Simon his last glass. "You'll have to learn that for yourself. Hasta luego." He said as he walked away.

I thought about what he said. I considered Simon and I equals before when he was a mundane. As far as I was concerned, we still were. Then, I realized. I'd only known Simon as a mundane, that was why I never told him that I liked him. Mundanes and the Shadow World didn't mix, and I didn't want him to get hurt, but... He wasn't a mundane anymore. With practice and training, he could keep up with the Shadow World. He was already a part of the Downworld. Maybe... Maybe it was time to tell him.

Though, I couldn't help but have second thoughts about it. I did like Simon, a lot, though I wasn't sure why. He was friends with Clary, so that was a plus, we shared a love of music, he's totally sweet and sincere and I couldn't ask for a more genuine or honest person. Still, there were drawbacks. He was in love with Clary when I met him and for all I knew, he still was. Not to mention that it had been a year since Dylan died and I was still trying to get past it. Simon wasn't a mundane anymore, sure, but it was still a terrible situation. Simon never wanted to be a vampire, but I told him he could always talk to me. I would be here. I should tell him how I feel. Even if he's still in love with Clary and I totally embarrass myself, it will be worth knowing where he stands.

Having made my decision, I touched Clary's arm and nodded to the opposite corner. "Hey, sidebar?"

"Yeah, sure." She nodded and followed me over. "What's up?"

"I need to talk to Simon in a private-ish way. I was wondering if you could try to give me some space to do it in this tiny room." I asked, glancing at the gate caging us to the wall.

She cocked her head. "Is something wrong?"

"No, I just... I know a lot is happening right now, but Simon isn't a mundane anymore and I just wanted to make sure that he knew I wasn't going anywhere. Maybe I could help him through this." I tried to explain it lightly because I had never asked, and I wasn't really sure how Clary would feel about me having feelings for her best friend.

Clary's face formed a small smile and I could myself mirroring it. She glanced at Simon and then back at me. "You're going to tell him that you're in love with him, aren't you?"

I physically felt my eyes widen at the 'L' word. "Woah, no. Hang on. I haven't known Simon long enough to develop those kinds of feelings yet. I was thinking about telling him that I was sort of interested, but I don't know if the feeling is mutual."

"Well, I don't know about the feeling being mutual, but I do know that there is a lot going on in Simon's head right now. I obviously can't tell you what to do, but I think that if you maybe waited until he was settled down and not totally focused on his world falling apart, he would find it a lot easier to process."

I thought about her words and realized that she had a point. "Well, maybe I should just talk to him and try to get the feel of where he stands before I say anything."

She nodded slightly. "Yeah, that's not a bad idea."

It was silent for a moment and then I rolled my eyes and sighed in defeat. "Okay, I'm sorry that I blamed you for what happened at the Insitute. I know how important it is that you get your mom back and I know that what happened with Simon wasn't your fault either. I just care about him a lot and I didn't really know how to react when I heard about the Institute."

"It's okay, I get it." She waved it off like it was no big deal. "Don't get me wrong, I am sorry about the Institute, whether the cause was me or anything else, and... I know you care about Simon. I've caught you thinking about him and it always seems to make you... Lighter."

I felt my eyes widen. "What do you mean you've caught me thinking about him before? Like... You just hear my thought's whenever you want?"

"No, not like that. I've never tried to listen in, it just happens sometimes, and usually, you're worrying about something." She thought for a moment. "Or when you're really happy."

I furrowed my brow and crossed my arms, feeling confused. "Why hasn't that happened to me before? I can only see what's going on inside your head when I touch you. Hodge said that it was rare when twins could hear and talk to each other telepathically, but it seems to happen for you, so why not me?"

Clary bit her lip. "Well, my theory? You're kind of closed off. It's like I don't have such a hard time letting people in, but you do. Maybe it has something to do with only half letting me into your head. I can hear your thoughts whether or not you send them, but no matter how hard I try, I can't speak to you that way yet."

"This whole thing is bizarre," I commented and laughed. She nodded in agreement before gesturing to Simon. I understood what she meant and gave her a smile, then I walked over to sit next to him.

He didn't look at me as I sat down, and I took a deep breath before I spoke. "Hey, Simon. How are you feeling now?" I asked, referring to his drink.

"I'm drinking blood, Addi." He replied. His face was bleak and I felt awful for him.

I sighed. "I know, Simon, but-"

"I never wanted any part of any of this." He told me, slightly shaking his head. "The whole Shadow World."

"You know, I had always wondered what it would have been like to be a mundane. I still do."

"At least you're a superior being." His voice wavered with emotion. "I'm a Downworlder.

"What's wrong with that?" I truly didn't think any less of Simon, no matter what species he was now. He was still the same person. "Sometimes being a Downworlder sucks, I understand that, but other times I bet it would beat being a Shadowhunter. You don't have people planning out your life for you, you never age, and you can be whomever you want to for as long as you live. What is losing a little sunlight if it means you can be 100% you?" He looked away as I spoke and I knew he didn't believe me. "I heard what you said out there. No sunlight just means that you will never have to deal with a sunburn or worry about going blind. Feeding on blood means that you never have to spend money you don't have on food, and you won't have to kill people to do it. As for being around the people you love..." I looked down. "Look how close you are now."

There was a silence and I realized what I'd just said. He didn't reply, his mouth just opened and closed over and over with words that never came out. I decided to move on from it. "It only takes a little practice to be around people like normal. So, there has to be a point when it eventually becomes okay."

He glanced down at his glass. "Well... I dont want to bite you anymore." He said with a small smile and I couldn't help but release the breath I'd been holding in. I chuckled before replying to him.

"Well, that's good." I sighed. "I know it is going to sound kind of selfish... I didn't even want Clary to bring you back because I knew that you wouldn't have chosen this, but what if it's a good thing? Maybe, subconciously, Clary wanted the both of you to be different. I'm happy you're still around, and I don't care if you're a mundane, a vampire, a ghost or a genie. To me, you're still just Simon."

He smiled at me, and suddenly I felt him take my hand. My cheeks felt hot and I knew I was red all over. I squeezed his hand, for no reason than to show that I meant what I said. He took a deep breath and stood up, letting go of my hand and leaning against the metal gate. "What's going to happen to us now? Luke and Raphael can't stand each other, every Downworlder seems to despise Shadowhunters. I mean, there's a divide. Can't you see that?"

Clary walked over to us then, joining the conversation and I couldn't help but grin at her. "Not between us." She said assuringly. She took my hand and Simon's. "Never."

Raphael had appeared near the gate. "It seems the cavalry has arrived." He announced and pulled the gate up to free us. "You're going to want to use the back stairs."

We left the Hotel DuMort without another word and ran out to join our friends that had come for us. Luke, Jace, and Izzy stood outside waiting for us. I didn't say anything to Jace because I still felt awkward about how he left earlier today. Clary ran straight into his arms and Simon and Luke greeted each other while I walked to meet Izzy. She had a strained look on her face despite seeing us freed.

"So this is your secret hideout, huh?" Jace spoke to us with a bit of a smirk.

"Well, you think the Clave was going to look here?" Clary asked in a smug way, knowing his answer.

Izzy raised her voice abruptly. "Can we please focus on the matter at hand? Unless no one here cares that the Clave is planning on murdering Meliorn."

"What?" Clary was taken aback.

I was quick to answer her, knowing that Izzy was right about it being time-sensitive. "They think Meliorn has more information on Valentine and the attack than he's saying."

"Wait, you knew? Why didn't you tell me?" She asked, surprised.

"There was kind of a lot going on, Clary. I didn't want you to know until we could do something about it." I defended myself.

"They're taking him to the Silent Brothers," Izzy informed her.

"We have to stop them." She looked at each of us and Jace put his hands on her shoulders.

"That's the plan, Clary. Rescue and recovery." He assured her.

"We get him from the guards, in and out, no one gets hurt," Izzy ordered.

"You want us to go up against the Silent Brothers and an elite Shadowhunter guard unit?" She asked doubtfully.

"Without any backup?" Luke added.

"Pretty much sums it up, yeah." Jace nodded, but I could see that he knew how crazy this was.

Clary was silent for a moment. "Is Alec coming?"

"No, not this time," Jace answered her and I could do was cross my arms. Alec's actions were hurtful, to say the least.

"Look, if they're doing this to Seelies, no Downworlder is safe." I said.

"But we can't go it alone, not if we don't want to be detected." Clary pointed out.

Luke came up with a solution. "My pack will track the unit, create a distraction."

Simon came to stand next to me and looked at Jace. "I would suggest vampires, but I doubt they'll cooperate."

"As much as I hate to agree with Simon, vamps aren't exactly team players," Jace said.

"Let me talk to Raphael," Clary suggested. "I think I can persuade him."

"What are you going to say?" I asked, curious.

"Trust me." She insisted with a smirk.

We were once again back in the Hotel DuMort not ten minutes later, meeting with Raphael and some of his clan. Clary was speaking out her plan. "We're offering an alliance with the Seelies."

Raphael moved his gaze to Luke until he spoke up. "And the werewolves."

He turned back to Clary and with a pointed look, he asked, "Why should we believe you? You killed our people, you violated our home."

I narrowed my eyes. "You kidnapped a mundane. Remember that?" I asked, my voice dripping in sarcasm.

Simon raised his hand, his face painted with an equal amount of sarcasm. "That was me."

Clary got back to the point. "Look, you were just following Camille's orders. She violated the Accords. You are a different kind of leader."

I had to keep myself from scoffing at that last part, instead, I added on to what Clary was saying. "We are a new generation of Shadowhunters. We believe everyone can be equal." I glanced at Simon and got a small smile in return.

"But we have to work together if we want to stop Valentine," Clary continued, "and to ensure the Clave doesn't repeat past mistakes. What do you say?"

Raphael didn't miss a beat. "This decision requires a consensus."

It was silent for a moment, I didn't understand why it was so important and dramatic until Simon stepped forward and spoke up. "I vote yes."

"Well, well, well, baby's first words." Raphael mocked Simon, but Simon didn't back down.

"Don't make me regret them."

"If our newest member pledges his loyalty to his new leader, joins our clan..." Raphael trailed off. "We'll stand beside you."

"No way in hell." I instantly rejected the idea. "Simon's not a pawn."

Simon looked at me and I felt his eyes burn into mine. "No, I'm not." Then, he turned back to Raphael. "But I accept your deal."

"Simon, what are you doing?" I asked in disbelief.

"Whatever it takes to protect the Downworld." He replied quietly to me. "It's my world now."

I couldn't do anything but set my mouth tight and nod because I understood. It was his world now. Raphael looked to his followers and with no complaints, he met Clary's eyes. "Then we're in."

We'd taken the back way into the City of Bones. We walked in our group with the vampire clan next to us, including Simon. His agreement made me nervous. Simon shouldn't have had to belong to anyone, no matter the circumstances.

"The City of Bones has a service entrance. Perfect." Clary muttered.

"I hope I have better luck here than I did the last time," Simon said to no one in particular.

We stopped walking and Clary addressed the two groups. "Everyone knows what to do?"

"Text when you're in position." Jace reminded everyone.

Luke went to walk forward and Raphael whistled to get his attention. "Stay," Raphael commanded. I narrowed my eyes but Luke just stopped walking though he looked confused. "Good dog." Raphael was mocking him.

"Bite me," Luke growled.

"Roll over."

"Play dead."

"Boom!" Simon exclaimed in response to Luke's comeback. They fist bumped and Simon grinned. Luke went to continue walking and one of the men of Luke's pack shoulder-checked Simon. While Simon wasn't quick to react, the rest of clan did in one unanimous hiss.

I went to hold back the vampires and Jace did his best to guard the werewolves. Clary screamed to get everyone's attention. "Hey, enough! Enough!" When everyone quieted, she tried to rationalize. "All of our lives are at stake. It's time we put aside our differences and work together."

I nodded in agreement and backed her up. "Tonight, we're all Downworlders." Clary glanced over to the wolf pack.

"Luke?" She asked, waiting for an affirmation. He gave her an immediate nod and I turned to the vampires.

"Raphael?" I asked. He gave the same nod with a bit of attitude and the Downworld groups went there separate ways, except for Simon who hung back for a moment.

"I guess I should expect people to hate me for who I am, now." He said miserably. "I'll get used to it."

I turned to Simon and took his hand, making him look me in the eye. "Never get used to it. You hear me?"

Simon stood in front of me and Izzy appeared next to him. "Let's do this."

Simon nodded and went to follow the vampires while I stuck with Izzy close behind until we rounded the corner and caught up with Raphael.

"So, what are we thinking?" Simon asked. "A little _Encanto_ action?"

I cocked my head. "You know there's a rune for that."

"Of course, there is."

"Just watch and learn from the master." Raphael was a little too cocky for Izzy's liking.

She stopped him and looked him in the eye. "Remember, no one gets hurt."

Raphael nodded, and we continued closer. We were hidden when we heard them coming and the wolves made themselves known. Something felt off. I was supposed to get the guard with Meliorn away from him, so when Izzy activated the smoke bomb with her stele, I got closer to the edge and ready to fight.

As soon as she threw it, everyone moved. Izzy took down someone and the vampires disappeared with most of the rest. When I saw Meliorn I ran toward him and then stopped in my tracks because I couldn't attack the person standing next to him.

"Addi?"

"Alec, what the hell are you doing here?" I asked, incredulously.

"Alec." Clary appeared behind them and suddenly Jace was at my side.

Alec glared at Jace more harshly than I had ever seen before. "You told me you were taking the twins back to the Institute. You lied to me."

"I did what had to be done." There was no apology in Jace's voice.

"Alec, what are you doing?" I spoke in a voice that was only meant for him. "The Clave has gone too far. You must see that. Please, do yourself a favor and let Meliorn go."

"I have my orders," Alec said, cryptically, like someone else was controlling him.

"You and your damn orders. Who cares about orders!" Clary exclaimed, and Alec turned to her with a harsh glare.

"That's how little you know about being a Shadowhunter. You couldn't possibly understand-"

"It's you that doesn't understand, Alec," Jace said, hopelessly. "Not this time."

Alec didn't say anything but just tried to walk Meliorn past us. I heard Jace say "I'm sorry" before tackling Meliorn and I reached out and pulled him out of the way. Jace tackled Alec and had him pinned and the both of them were still struggling when I turned to Clary and shouted, "Clary, take Meliorn and go, now!"

She did as I said, and they ran off, and all I could do was stare in horror as my two best friends fought in front of me. Everything in me rejected the idea of Alec and Jace fighting. Parabatai weren't supposed to fight against each other, they were supposed to fight with each other. As they struggled, their conversation was even harder to hear in this situation.

"You always broke the rules," Alec panted, "but never the law. Not until she showed up."

"You've had it out for Clary from the start, and now you're getting married, Alec?" Jace didn't say it as a question, more like an accusation, but it still surprised me.

"Wait, Alec, you're marrying her?" I felt weird like I'd been betrayed. Lydia had only been around for a little while, but she had managed to damage us in more ways than one. "How could you?"

"I have to, you don't understand." There was pleading in his voice, but I couldn't process the words. There was so much anger and pain coursing through me. I loved Alec, but Jace was right. This person in front of me wasn't Alec anymore.

"No, we both know what this is about," Jace said. Alec was still struggling on the ground underneath him.

Alec's voice went harsh. "Oh, do we? Okay. Why doesn't the legend, Jace Wayland, tell us what it's about?"

"It's about me!" Jace yelled. I cocked my head in confusion until he spoke his next words. "It's about your feelings, it's because you're-"

Jace didn't get to finish what he was saying because Alec kicked him off before he could. I couldn't do anything but watch them as they fought, quite literally kicking the crap out of each other. It wasn't normal, it wasn't right. I didn't know what to do. Part of me wanted to defend Jace, another part wanted to help Alec, and the biggest part knew that it was their fight to have.

At least, that was what I did until Alec pinned Jace and held a Seraph blade to his throat. Jace looked at his Parabatai in a way that made me think of Luke and Valentine. "Do it." Jace goaded him. "Do it!"

I wasn't going to let him. "Oh, hell no." I ran up behind Alec and kicked his legs out from underneath him, and when he fell to the ground I helped Jace stand up. Alec stayed down and Jace looked at him with so much pain in his eyes, holding his hands out.

"I don't want to be alive if we're on different sides, Alec."

Alec dropped his blade to the floor, looking defeated as if anyone had won. That was what he didn't understand. If it was going to be us against him, there wouldn't be a winner.

"Come with us," I begged him. "We can fight Valentine the right way, all of us. Together."

"If we do that, we'll be considered traitors, like Mom and Dad." He wouldn't meet my eyes, and it scared me.

Jace stepped forward. "I'm begging you, my parabatai, my brother," Jace's voice wavered with vulnerability, "Please, Alec, come with me."

Alec finally looked up and met Jace's eyes, his gaze sliding to mine and back to Jace, and gave his final answer.

"No."

It felt like I had been punched in the stomach, and I couldn't imagine how Jace felt right now. Alec looked so sure, but he didn't look the least bit sorry. I just didn't understand how someone could have changed so much in one day.

Jace took a second to process his word, and he was trying not to fall apart. He walked away from me and Alec like it was painful to be here, and I'm sure it was. I looked down at Alec, still sitting on the floor, and I realized that I had nothing to say to him. There was nothing I could do to make this better. So I just said the one thing that I had yet to say him, and I knew that he knew what my words really meant.

"Goodbye, Alec."

Jace had ended up catching up with Clary who had found Simon. We went back to the Hotel DuMort with him before Jace started to think about what happens next.

"Guys, we have to go. Meliorn is a wanted man. We have to get him back to the Seelie Court where he's protected."

Clary and Jace walked ahead and I hung back to say goodbye to Simon. "I wish you could come with us."

I couldn't read Simon's expression. He tried to act like it was okay that he couldn't leave this place, but it was like no matter how I tried to word his defense strategy in my head, his same words kept coming back up. _Anything it takes to protect the Downworld. It's my world now._

"I've kind of got a lot of stuff to work on here. Like, controlling my murderous tendencies." His words made me chuckle and my stomach started to turn at the thought of him being forced to stay here. "We'll see each other soon." He assured me.

I smiled at him, and maybe it was a sad one, but I'd never been one to fake how I feel. I took his hand and replied. "I'm counting on it." I looked down for a second and I couldn't stop the tears from forming in my eyes at the guilt I felt. "Simon, I'm sorry. You wouldn't have gotten kidnapped if I hadn't left you in that van. I'm so sorry that this happened to you."

"Hey," he stopped me, and I met his eyes. They swirled with a dark rich brown and I felt his hand tighten around mine. "What's done is done and I don't blame you. I'm a vampire and you're a Shadowhunter. Maybe it's supposed to mean something. Maybe, now, I'm supposed to be a part of this world. With my best friend... And her sister."

I smiled widely. "I think you were always meant to be a part of this world." Then, I decided to take a leap. I took a step forward, and leaned in. My lips grazed his cheek slightly and softly. There was no better feeling in the world.

When I pulled away, he was smiling, and I think I was, too. "See you around, Simon."

When Jace, Clary, and I had walked out of the Institute, Izzy and Meliorn had already reunited and were in the middle of a personal embrace when Jace separated them.

"I hate to break up this reunion, Izzy, but we've got to go." He announced.

Izzy looked in Meliorn's eyes. "You're in good hands." Then she turned to us. "I need to get back to the Institute, see what hell has broken lose, try and talk some sense into Alec." She sighed. "Take care of him."

We all nodded in return and he kissed Meliorn one last time before running off.

Meliorn turned to face me and Clary. "Isabelle told me that it was the two of you that rallied the Downworlders. You lead my rescue." His eyes flitted in between the two of us.

"You can't give us too much credit." Clary said. "Izzy made this happen. We just helped."

Jace sighed. "They're being modest."

"I've been surprised by a few Shadowhunters tonight. You two risked everything to unite us." Meliorn commented.

Jace was more accusatory. "Right after you tried to sell her out."

"Not my finest moment." Meliorn admitted with a slight chuckle. "Which is why I'm offering the two of you a gift for your sacrifice and generosity." Clary and I shared a look as we waited anxiously for his offer. "If you're ready, I can you find your father."

Disclaimer- I do not own any of the original words, story lines or characters in this story. They belong to Cassandra Clare and the writers of Shadowhunters. I only own my own characters and ideas.

Okay, well, there it is. I hope you enjoyed it, because I actually really loved this chapter. A lot of people have asked me why it's taking so long for Adrienne and Simon to happen… It's not really. I just want it to be a slow burn, but trust me, it's coming. Lol. Also, I know my uploading is kind of random, so I wanted to know if you guys think that I should upload at a scheduled time or if you like my random uploads. If so, what day? Okay, I hope you loved this chapter and if you did, make sure to favorite and review with your thoughts and opinions, and until next time!

-Red


	10. Chapter 10

"Toto, we're not in Kansas anymore," Clary muttered as we made our way through the thick greenery. The air was bright and sparkled with the magic of the Seelie realm. I wasn't sure how long we'd been walking, but at least it was pretty here. Meliorn was leading us through the woods to what we'd need to find our father. I was so nervous I could barely breathe.

"Welcome to the Seelie Glade, Clary Fairchild," Meliorn said to her, "the remotest edges of it."

"Toto?" I asked in confusion. She just shook her head as if to tell to me to forget about it.

Clary glanced at Jace. "How did we get here?"

"There are entrances all through the mundane world," Jace replied.

Meliorn gave the smallest of smiles. "You just have to know where to look."

"Why did we have to come here to find our father?" Clary asked Meliorn, stepping through the wet leaves.

Meliorn turned around to face us while he walked backward for a moment. "Because of your necklace," he said to Clary and turned to me, "and your bracelet. They're portal shards."

"Tell us something we don't know," Jace mumbled quietly.

Clary and I glanced at each other and I nodded for her to explain. "When I touch the necklace and I think of someone, I can see where they are."

I chimed in. "Same with my bracelet, but what I don't understand is why, since I've had mine since I was eight years old, have I only just done it? Surely in the last ten years, I had to have accidentally touched it while thinking of someone but nothing has ever happened before."

"I'm afraid I cannot answer that, but what I can ask is, Shadowhunter, who knows so much about portals, did you never wonder why these portal shards don't behave the way normal portals do?" Meliorn asked, but didn't answer. I was frustrated because he couldn't lie which meant he really didn't know.

Clary looked to Jace for an explanation. "Normal portals can only take you to places you've been. I guess I've never really thought about it."

Meliorn chuckled. "I see Isabelle is the only smart one in the family." We stopped for a moment and Meliorn faced me and Clary. "Your portal shards work the way they do because they're pieces of a portal from another dimension."

I squinted my eyes. "Another dimension?"

Jace crossed his arms. "So, you're saying there's a portal in another universe that can take u to anyone if we just think of them?"

"If you can find the only portal still standing in that dimension, it will take you to your father," Meliorn said simply.

Clary touched my arm and I heard her voice in my head. _"Do you believe what he's saying?"_

I sent a message back. " _Yeah, Seelies can't lie, but I don't know anything about interdimensional travel. Just because he's offering to let us doesn't mean it won't be dangerous."_

Suddenly Meliorn started walking ahead of us again and we were quick to follow. He kept talking as we went. "These trees are where the alternate dimensions intersect the Seelie realm."

"How is it possible that the Clave doesn't know about your dimensional doorways?" I asked suspiciously.

We stopped in front of two oddly shaped trees, curving over one another. "They are our most guarded secret. We are their protectors. Only Seelies know of their existence."

"Then why are you telling us?" Clary asked, genuinely curious.

"I owe you a life debt... and I don't like being indebted to anyone," Meliorn replied as a matter-of-factly.

Clary studied the trees. "What would happen if-"

"If the Seelie Queen finds out that I've shared this with you?" Meliorn looked her in the eyes, his voice lowering. "I could be executed."

"Well, we'll be extra careful, then," Jace promised, looking at the archway.

Meliorn's head snapped to him. "There's no 'we' in your scenario. Only the twins go into this portal, my debt is to them."

"You've given us no reason to trust you, Seelie," Jace growled.

"He brought us here." Clary pointed out.

"He's trusting us," I added, thinking about the fact that he could be executed for this.

Meliorn stepped in front of the tree-made archways, using magic to move the ivy and activate the portal. It was beautiful and mesmerizing.

"I knew Seelies were one with nature, but..." Clary's voice trailed off and I just watched Meliorn.

"This will establish a connection to the other dimension," Meliorn informed us.

Clary took a deep breath and said in a shaky voice, "What's it like? The other dimension, is it like this one?"

"It is... but it isn't," Meliorn said cryptically while he worked.

"Could you be vaguer?" Jace asked rhetorically.

"It is an alternate timeline, in a sense. There, Shadowhunters and demons no longer exist, and Downworlders have conformed to the mundane way of life to avoid detection." Meliorn strained as it got more difficult.

"What happened to the Shadowhunters?" I questioned.

"There services we no longer required because they won the war against demons centuries ago," Meliorn explained. "Once they sealed the rifts between their worlds, their culture faded away. Once you arrive in the alternate dimension, you will assume the bodies of the twins, Clary and Addi, in that world. You will think and feel just like her."

"But, we'll still know that we're us, right?" She asked, looking more nervous than I felt. "We'll know we have to find the portal?"

Jace rolled his eyes at Meliorn's momentary silence. "There's a catch. With Seelies, there's always a catch."

"You're alternate selves will consume you if you let them."

"And the way to not let them?" I asked, annoyed at his short answers.

"Focus on the differences between that world and ours. Find something or someone to keep you grounded in this one, like each other." He told us.

Clary and I glanced at each other. "Shouldn't be too hard."

She smiled at me. "Easy enough."

"It will be more difficult than you think. If you don't hurry, you could cease to be this world's Clarissa and Adrienne Fairchild."

"And be stuck in that world..." She trailed off.

"Forever." I finished.

A few minutes later, when the stun of the circumstance wore off, Clary and Jace were having a moment and I decided to call the only other person I wanted to talk to at the moment.

The phone rang twice before he picked up. _"Hey, Addi."_

"Hey, Simon. Um, are you busy?"

 _"I'm just at the Jade Wolf with Luke right now, but I stepped away so we could talk. What's up?"_

I bit my lip before deciding to just say what I needed to say. "Look, I'm about to go into something pretty dangerous and... I don't know, I just needed to talk to you first in case... Well, in case it doesn't go the way we hope."

 _"Wait, how dangerous? And who's 'we'?"_

I sighed. "Dangerous enough that if we don't succeed, you most likely will never see me again... Or Clary. She and I are the 'we'."

 _"Addi, what the hell is going on? I need to see you."_

"There isn't time to explain, I just wanted to tell you something before I go." I took a deep breath.

 _"What? Tell me."_

"Thank you. For coming into my life." I was sincere. He had made my life so much better in a way that he would probably never understand.

 _"I think I should be thanking you for saving mine."_

I chuckled a bit before answering. "Always, Simon. I have to go. Wish me luck."

 _"Please be careful."_

I smiled a bit. "Sure. Goodbye, Simon." When I hung up the phone, my hands felt shaky.

Clary had walked over to me just in time for Meliorn to tell us that it was time.

"Meliorn, I appreciate the risk you're taking, but a life debt ensures my safety," Clary said. "We'll agree to go alone, but if we find this alternate portal we won't be able to face Valentine on our own."

I glanced over at Clary with furrowed brows. _"What are you doing?"_

She replied to my mental message. _"Making sure that we have help."_

"She'll need backup." Jace continued the conversation.

Meliorn sighed and smiled. "If you find the portal, you may come back for him. Shadowhunters need Seelie permission to go through. Only demons can pass through unaided."

Meliorn turned around and spoke to the portal in Seelie language, opening the newly-created portal doors to what looked like the edge of the universe. Clary grabbed my hand and I nodded to her as we went through together.

The witch was instantaneous and I didn't remember anything in between this world and ours. One second I saw the red and blue of the portal door and the next I was standing in front of a refrigerator with a can of whipped cream in my hand. I looked down at it and frowned. "What the hell?"

"Addi?" I turned around and Clary was standing at a kitchen table.

I stepped toward her cautiously. "Clary?"

She nodded erratically. "Yeah, it's me. Are you okay?"

"I'm good." I looked at the unfamiliar room. "Where are we?"

"This is the loft where I grew up, pre-house-fire." She waved her arms around. "I guess in this world Mom never had to give you up, so we grew up together."

I looked around the kitchen in awe. "Woah. I always wondered what life would have been like as a mundane."

She just nodded and suddenly there was a noise behind us. I turned around and almost had a heart attack when I saw Valentine on the other side of the table. Clary grabbed a butter knife and extended her arm to his torso with it. "Where's my mother!"

Valentine leaned back in surprise and was silent for a moment before he held up his hands and started laughing. "Woah. Is this from one of your cosplay skits?" He turned his gaze to me. "Adrienne, did you put your sister up to this?" He chuckled again before calling out into the other room. "Honey! Come in here. You've gotta see this." He just chuckled some more and I looked at Clary and did my best to send her a mental message, not sure if I still could.

 _"Clary, just put the butter knife down. This isn't our world and you look weird."_

Apparently, we still could because she looked over to me like she heard me and did as I said.

"No, seriously, you guys have got to let me come with you just once, okay? I want to see what you do at these things, alright?"

The woman I'd seen in the visions walked into the room and I saw Clary's eyes go as big as they could. "Val, you're not allowed to do cosplays. You'd stick out like a sore thumb."

"Mom," Clary whispered and immediately ran to hug her. Jocelyn acted surprised but I knew what this meant to Clary. Me, on the other hand, I wasn't so sure. It was odd, looking at the woman who gave me up. We looked just like her.

"Wow," she chuckled, "if you missed us this much, you should really leave the dorm room more often. Maybe this is why your sister deferred a year of college." She smiled and looked into my eyes. I felt my heart thump, unsteady.

When Clary pulled away, Clary tried to laugh to cover up the weirdness. "Right, sorry."

It was silent as Valentine messed in the kitchen and Jocelyn sat down at the table. Clary walked over to the paintings in the corner. When I looked closer, I realized what the were leaning against. A big, shiny black piano. Valentine Morgenstern was engraved in the top and my fingers itched to go to play it, but now was not the time.

"Clary, Adrienne," Jocelyn said our names and we both turned in response. "In honor of your father's Mad Hatter party tonight..."

Valentine laughed and explained. "Your mother made waffles for you. C'mon, girls, you've gotta eat something, right?"

We chuckled awkwardly as I sat down at the table in front of Valentine and Clary sat in front of Jocelyn. "So, girls..." Valentine leaned back and addressed us. "When do I get to meet the new men in your lives, hm?"

"Val," Jocelyn had a tone that was just slightly less than a scolding.

"What? I have to give my stamp of approval right?" He shrugged with a smile and Jocelyn gave a little laugh. "I tell you, it's only right that they would both meet someone at the same time. It seems they do everything together."

Clary laughed genuinely and I had to give a smile, too. Maybe the life I would have had as a mundane would have been better than the one I've got now.

Jocelyn looked at the TV on the wall behind us. "Oh, girls, look at this commercial. It's hilarious." She laughed. "It's so bad it's good."

We turned around to see a man on the screen. It was strange, I felt like I knew him from somewhere. In fact, everyone on this commercial looked slightly familiar. It didn't matter. I was content, I was happy. I was warm and everything that didn't matter seemed to fade away as I watched the commercial.

"...I'm Magnus Bane. Come in today for a tarot card and a psych reading." The man said with a smile. "I'll help you find your way."

I gasped as it felt like everything snapped back into place and I gained perspective. I dropped my fork onto the plate and suddenly Clary was looking at me with wide eyes. "We have to go," I announced and we simultaneously stood up.

"What?" Jocelyn was taken aback.

So was Valentine. "We thought you guys were spending the morning with us."

I looked at Clary for some kind of excuse. "I, uh, have a last-minute assignment due that I have even started yet."

Valentine looked at me expectantly and I had to keep from rolling my eyes. "Why are you leaving?"

I thought for a minute before I grabbed my jacket. "It's me. I'm her assignment, I mean, she's painting me. I'm her model." I chuckled nervously and we walked out the door, but I heard Valentine calling after us to make sure we were coming to his party.

We ended up walking down the street to an outside cafe. Clary was looking through her phone contacts and I just waited to see what she found.

"Hey," a very familiar voice greeted me and his arms snaked around my waist. I turned around and Simon was right there hugging me. He was smiling widely and he still had his glasses. He was human, he was happy. "Where have you been?"

"Simon, you're in the sun," I stated, not knowing what else to say.

He cocked his head and laughed. "Yeah, so are you." I smiled at him. Then, without warning, he leaned in and I felt his lips on mine. They were soft and warm, and my eyes closed instinctively. I was surprised, to say the least, apparently, Simon was the new 'man in my life'. I wrapped my arms around his neck and stood up a little taller on my toes to reach him. It only lasted for a few seconds, and when he pulled away, Clary had finally noticed he was there.

"Simon?" She asked incredulously.

"Hey, Clary. We've been texting you guys for like twenty minutes-"

Clary had tried to push Simon under one of the umbrellas. "Simon get out of the sun!"

When he resisted and she processed that he was fine he looked at her strangely. "Hey, what the hell?"

Clary just stared at him and I chuckled a bit. He read her face and put his arm around my waist again, pulling me closer and pointing his finger at her. "I know what that look means. Caffeine deprivation. Come on, Tweek." Simon grabbed her wrist and pulled both of us along.

"Simon, hang on." She tried to stop him as he dragged us over to a table. "We don't have time for coffee today."

"No, I know that look in your eye. When you get that look we either have to caffeinate you immediately or accept full responsibility for you killing someone." Simon nodded and pushed up his glasses. "And you know how I am with blood." He shuddered and walked over to the coffee truck.

All I could do was look at Clary. "The irony."

After that, Clary bumped my arm and nodded to the table we were standing at, with the world's Alec and Isabelle sitting together there. Isabelle studied Clary's necklace and cocked her head. "Is that new?"

Clary looked down at her necklace, glanced at me and then said, "Yes, I got it a couple days ago. Addi has a bracelet just like it." Clary grabbed my hand and held my arm up to show her. Izzy admired my bracelet for a moment and then smiled at us.

"And it goes with your dresses because you're both getting ready at my place tonight, right?" I furrowed my brows in confusion.

"Ready for what?" I asked slowly. I needed to find a personal calendar for my agenda in this world.

Alec looked at me seriously. "That is not even a little bit funny. I have poured my heart and soul into planning this anniversary party for the Insitute, and the theme is amazing." I noticed something different about him, other than the fact that his hair was slicked back and he was wearing lightly-colored clothes. He was relaxed. He was out in this world.

I nodded in understanding and smiled at him. "Uh-huh."

He turned to Izzy then. "Seriously, though, what is with this guy and the Mad Hatter?"

Isabelle turned to Alec like she couldn't believe he dared to ask. "Visionaries are quirky crazy. You don't get 4D internet tech by thinking inside the box."

"I'm beginning to wonder if you don't have a thing for your boss." Alec mused.

Isabelle just chuckled. "Like if the twins' dad would ever go for me." She smiled bashfully.

My eyebrows raised and Clary stuttered her words. "Wait, our dad?"

Isabelle scoffed and stammered. "What? No, I'm totally kidding. I mean, I'm not crushing on your dad, right?"

Clary glazed over her shock and nodded in agreement. "No, right, of course not."

"That'd be totally weird," I added, chuckling.

Isabelle quickly agreed and put in her earbuds to end that conversation.

"Order's up," Simon said as he walked back over to us with our coffees then. I wondered how he knew my coffee order. The Simon in our world didn't. I said a quick thanks and tasted the liquid caffeine, doing my best to hide the surprised expression on my face when my coffee tasted perfect. Black with tons of sugar.

Simon glanced at Alec. "We're setting up at six, right?" When Alec nodded in confirmation, Simon pulled me toward him and wrapped his arms around my waist. I put down my coffee and rested my hands on his shoulders.

He looked past me for a moment. "Clary, Adrienne and I will need your help tonight, loading. This gig could be... Huge for us." Clary nodded and then Jace appeared behind her, pulling off somewhere they could be alone.

Simon stepped us a bit away from the table and kept his hands where they were, so I did the same. "You ready for tonight?"

I was a little lost. "For the party?"

Simon looked so excited. "For your big debut! The song you wrote is amazing and everyone is going to love you. I know I do."

I could have fallen over if he hadn't been holding me up. I felt my eyes go wide and then he slowly leaned down and softly let his lips graze over mine until I pulled him closer and he applied more pressure. My fingers tangled in his soft hair and his hands gripped my waist, not letting me slip even an inch away. As I stood there with him, I got that wonderful, enticing feeling again. The warmth, the light, the feeling of complete happiness started to wash over me as all the lines of my life blurred.

Then, suddenly, I was ripped away from Simon and Clary was standing in front of me. "Adrienne! Snap out of it!"

I gave my head a little shake, trying to clear away the fuzziness and then everything fell back into perspective. "By the angel... Clary." I looked at her as she stood there with panic and pain all over her face. "Come on." I swiveled my head to look at Simon. "I have to go, I'll see you tonight. I promise."

Simon just tilted his head and Clary grabbed my hand. We ran away from the little cafe. I wasn't sure how long we had been running when she stopped us.

"Okay, I think we need to go to Magnus'," Clary said, trying to catch her breath. "He's still a warlock."

I nodded in agreement. "Okay, yeah, that's a good idea. Um, there is something I need to go do first, can you head there by yourself and I'll meet you in a bit?"

She cocked her head. "Where are you going to go?"

"I just need to see if something is different in this dimension then at home. Relax, everything is good in this dimension. I probably won't be long, trust me."

"Okay, fine." She said looking at our surroundings. "I'll see you in a bit."

I nodded and we headed in opposite directions. I didn't plan on doing this when we got here, but as soon as the idea came to me, I knew I had to go.

His house was fourteen blocks away, and it didn't take me long to run there. Seeing it was like being in a dream. White house, black roof, bright red door. His old mustang was sitting in the driveway, and I tried to keep from getting my hopes up, but I felt my heart beating through my chest as I approached the door.

I knocked lightly, and when the door opened I almost screamed. He stood there in the doorframe looking normal and happy and alive. "Dylan?"

"Yeah, can I help you?" He asked, confusion shaping his oceanic eyes.

My stomach dropped. "Wait, um, do you know who I am?"

He leaned against the doorframe and crossed his arms. "No, should I?"

I stuttered through my entire answer. "No, I, uh, I just came to invite you to this party at the Institute tonight. I'm going to door to door."

He smiled widely, his teeth sparkling. "Ah, so cute girl comes to my door and invites me to a party. How could I say no?" He chuckled in delight. "What time is it?"

"Seven," I replied automatically. "Just say you're with the Mad Hatter's daughter."

He furrowed his brow. "Huh?"

I held out my hands. "Just trust me, they'll understand." My phone beeped with a text from Clary. She needed me at Magnus'. I started to leave, "I'll see you there."

I walked for a moment before he called after me. "Hey, wait! I didn't get your name!"

I stopped in my tracks. He'd said that when we first met, I couldn't help the smile on my face and I turned around and answered, "It's Adrienne, but you can call me Renne."

He smiled and nodded before retreating back into his house and I started to run to Magnus' place, the happiness of what had just happened giving me the energy to move faster than usual without the need for a rune.

Magnus still lived in the same place, and I walked into his loft without knocking, figuring that Clary had explained to him who we were and why we were there. "Clary!"

Clary and Magnus were standing in the middle of the room. She turned around and took an expression of relief when she saw me. "Oh, thank God. Do you have it?"

"Of course I do." I unfastened the bracelet from around my wrist and handed it to her. She popped the stone out of the metal band and took her stone off the chain of her necklace. It was obvious that they'd been broken apart and the closer they got to each other, the more they seemed to pull together. She put them together like puzzle pieces and they started to swirl like a portal, then she handed them to Magnus.

Magnus barely touched the stone before it made it him jump. "Oh! Now that's what I'm talking about. We have liftoff. The energy is very faint, it's been dormant for a long time, like me. Let's see if we can wake it up." He exclaimed, excited. He took a deep breath and concentrated.

"Can you see it?" Clary asked eagerly.

He replied. "Yes, it's in a subbasement of..." Magnus' face dropped. "Fort Knox."

I flinched. "Like, literally?"

"No, but it might as well be." He said in a hopeless voice. "The Insitute."

"Why is that a problem?" Clary asked, not getting it.

"High-tech, high-security. Impossible to get into." Magnus explained.

I grinned. "And hosting an anniversary party tonight that we have the hookup to."

Clary smiled along with me and Magnus had never looked more intrigued. My phone suddenly beeped with an emergency text from Isabelle. "Damn, it's Izzy." I put my phone away. "We're supposed to meet her tonight to get ready. Meet us tonight at seven at the Insitute."

Clary reached out and took the stone from Magnus' hand, snapping it apart and fastening it back into her necklace as I did the same with my bracelet. "Dress to impress." She smirked, and we walked out of his loft to head to Isabelle's.

Clary led me to her place and when we walked into her room, she turned around to look at us with a bruised purple cheek. "Oh, my God, what happened?" Clary exclaimed.

Isabelle was panicking. She explained quickly, partially rambling. "Kickboxing class. I thought, 'why not?' A quick class after work and boom, home in time to see you."

Clary looked at her with wide eyes. "Well, you got the 'boom' part right." She commented.

"Andrea's foot right into my face. She had to pick today to finally land her roundhouse?!" She exclaimed, losing it.

I held out my hands to try and calm her down. "It's okay, we'll fix it."

She didn't hear me and she started to pace. "And then Alec worked so hard to plan this. I just cannot not go to the party. And what am I supposed to do? I worked so hard." Sh was hyperventilating at this point.

Clary finally grabbed her shoulders and got her to listen. "Hey, we're gonna fix it."

Izzy sat down on the bed and breathed. "Okay."

Clary walked over to Izzy's vanity and grabbed her makeup, going to work on Izzy's bruise. Izzy picked up a costume hat sitting on her bed. "But then we have to fix you and Jace not talking because it really messes with my chi. At least Adrienne and Simon are okay." She mumbled. "Are you sure those are the colors?"

I squinted my eyes at the whole situation. Clary looked surprised at the mention of her and Jace not talking. "We will make it work," Clary assured her.

"Okay, because if I don't show up to the party, you're dad and Simon are so going to kill me and Adrienne, I really don't want to miss your first gig." I took a deep breath at the second mention of how I'm supposed to sing tonight.

Clary skated past it. "So, um, you think you could get a friend of mine on the guest list?"

"Two actually." I corrected her, trying to avoid the curious look Clary gave me.

"Well, if you can make this work, I'll do anything for you," Izzy said with an optimistic smile.

Clary and I shared a look and soon the bruise was covered and Izzy's meltdown was stalled for the time being. We all got ready pretty quickly. Izzy chose a blue dress, Clary's was an indigo color and mine was bright white, fading from flat to sparkling at the bottom.

Soon, we ended up at the Institute, and I saw Simon pretty immediately. He was setting up the keyboard and speakers, so I grabbed the mic stand and moved it to the middle of the stage. He grinned widely when he saw me.

I walked over to him and he took my hand, pulling me closer. "Hey, Adrienne."

I couldn't help but smile at his happy attitude. "Hey, Simon. Sorry about running off earlier."

"Don't worry about it," he shrugged, "you're nervous about singing tonight. I get it."

"Yeah, about that. Simon, I don't know if I can do it. I mean, I can barely remember the lyrics." I shook my head thinking of all the bad ways tonight could end. "I'm not prepared."

Simon furrowed his brow. "What? Adrienne, you're totally prepared. I have total faith that once you hear the music and you feel the lights and you know you can do it, the words will flow right out of you." Simon hugged me and kissed my cheek, but it didn't wipe away my nerves.

Soon, someone was tapping on the mic. We looked over and Valentine was standing in the middle of the stage, addressing the guests and introducing us. I was shaking.

"All right, ladies and gentleman. I thank you all for coming tonight, and I hope you're enjoying yourselves immensely, but now there is someone here that I have the greatest pleasure of introducing tonight. She's my daughter. All my life, I knew that my daughter was full of greatness and I knew that she would grow up to make me proud, and I was right. Here to sing you her brand new song, Adrienne Morgenstern!

Simon took my hand and gave me an encouraging smile as we walked out onto the stage. The room was full of the people, and I saw all of the familiar faces. My mother and father, Isabelle, Alec, Jace, Clary and even Magnus, but I had yet to see the face I'd been waiting for.

I knew I couldn't stall so I looked over and nodded at Simon, praying that he was right and it would come naturally.

The first few notes were beautiful, and the song made me feel powerful. The lyrics slipped out of my mouth without me having to think about it.

 **All this time... You thought you had me down,  
Sure you had snuffed me out,  
Undermined, you made me come undone,  
I was your smoking gun,**

 **You'd hold me.  
Control me.  
You stole me.  
Your plan almost broke me.  
Ashes remind me,  
just who am I?**  
 **  
I am Ember,  
'bout to start a wildfire.  
I am Ember,  
burning down your empire**.  
 **Glowing brighter than the darkness inside of you,  
can't escape the flame no matter what you do.  
I am Ember,  
'bout to start a wildfire.**

 **Lost the fight...  
You're not the chosen one,  
but you'll miss me when I'm gone.  
Reignite.  
You lost your grip on me,  
and now I blaze wild and free.**

 **You'd hold me.  
Control me.  
You stole me.  
Your plan almost broke me.  
Ashes remind me,  
just who am I?**

 **I am Ember,  
'bout to start a wildfire.  
I am Ember,  
burning down your empire.  
Glowing brighter than the darkness inside of you,  
can't escape the flame no matter what you do.  
I am Ember,  
'bout to start a wildfire.**

 **Ashes remind me...  
Remind me...**  
 **  
I am Ember,**  
 **'bout to start a wildfire.  
I am Ember,  
burning down your empire.  
Glowing brighter than the darkness inside of you,  
can't escape the flame no matter what you do.  
I am Ember,  
'bout to start a wildfire. **

When the last lyric left my mouth and the music ended, it was silent for a moment, only a moment.

Then the crowd erupted.

I had never sung in front of people before, and the sound of the applause brought me close to tears. Simon ran from behind the keyboard and hugged me, lifting me and spinning me around.

"You did it! Adrienne, you were amazing!" He screamed over the cheers. He put me down and I couldn't but get lost in his dark eyes. "I always knew you could. I love you."

He kissed me without waiting for a reply. I buried myself in it, and the warm, happy feeling crept up fast. I had no desire to go anywhere until I opened my eyes.

I saw him. Dylan was standing in the crowd, clapping with the rest. He didn't seem real, it was almost like he was a hologram of the same version that once lived in our world. Simon and I walked off the stage and I let go of him. "Hey, I have something I need to go do. I'll be right back."

He looked confused but nodded anyway. I started away from him and made my way through the crowd. I past Clary even though I heard her call after me, and I kept walking until I was face to face with him. "Hey."

He grinned. "Hey, Adrienne." I flinched when he said that. Dylan never called me Adrienne, I was always Renne to him. "When you invited me, you didn't tell me you would be the entertainment. That was amazing."

I blushed at his words, though they didn't have as much of an impact as I thought they would, and I found myself really wanting to get this over with so that I could go back to the Simon of our world. I missed my normalcy, as abnormal as it was. "Thanks, I hope you're enjoying yourself."

"As a matter of fact, I am. There is something I wanted to ask you," He took a deep breath. "I was wondering if you would want to go see a movie with me tomorrow night?"

I was silent. I didn't want to hurt his feelings, but I hated the movies. I'm in the dark most of the time anyway and I had enough things to think about without adding fictional storylines. Then, it hit me.

This guy might have been Dylan, but he wasn't my Dylan. My Dylan was gone, and no matter how hard I wished he would come back, he wouldn't. Staying here, trying to replace him with this Dylan wouldn't be the same, it would just prolong the pain. I would never have the history with this Dylan that I'd had with the one I'd fallen in love with. I wouldn't relive the last year to get it back, not when I was already beginning to feel attached to a certain vampire at home.

I decided there that I would say goodbye, once and for all. "No, I wouldn't. I'm sorry." His face fell and I grabbed his hand. His gaze snapped back up to meet mine. "I have to tell you something. I'm really glad I met you. I'm glad that you were my first love." He looked so confused and it seemed like he wanted an explanation, but all I could do was smile. "Live your life, Dyl. Be happy." With that, I kissed his cheek and let go of his hand, running back to my friends without looking back.

Clary intercepted me with a huge, dazed smile on her face. "A, you are never going to believe this, and I'd I'm not supposed to tell you but Simon's getting ready to ask you to move in with him!"

I was taken aback. "Huh? Okay, Clary, what's up with you?"

"What are you talking about? Aren't you happy?" She exclaimed with a grin.

Magnus walked up to the two of us then, looking really serious. "Come on, let's go." He tried to pull her along with him but she resisted, squinting at him in confusion.

"Do we know you?" She asked nervously.

"What? Clary, of course, we know him!" I whisper-yelled. "It's Magnus."

She still wasn't getting it. "I know him?"

 _"Clary, snap out of it!"_

Clary blinked quickly a few times and took a deep breath. "Woah, that was close."

"You're telling me," I muttered.

"Wait, what just happened?" Magnus asked, falling behind.

I waved it away. "I'll tell you later. Let's go."

I walked a bit ahead of the two of them, leading them to the back room where the portal was. Clary lingered outside for a moment before following us and closing the door behind her. I stepped behind a few boxes, checking the lining of the walls for the glamour. Magnus and Clary were talking hushed behind me and it was only a few seconds later that I heard a new voice.

"You know, if you were having second thoughts about us, you could have told me instead of coming down here and hooking up with some random guy." Jace did not sound happy and I froze, not knowing if I should make myself known or not.

"Jace, this isn't exactly a good time," Clary said impatiently. I had to cover my mouth to keep from laughing because I knew what it must sound like to Jace.

"Really?" He said incredulously. "You know when would be a good time for me, Clary? Never. Never call me again."

I stood back up and made eye contact with Clary. Jace was storming away and then jumped about six feet up in the air when suddenly a Ravenor demon dropped from the rafters.

Clary ran forward and kicked it into the wall, and Jace's eyes were the size of dinner plates as he tried to catch his breath. "What the hell was that thing?!"

This time, I did laugh. I couldn't picture Jace in any form not knowing what a demon was or how to fight it. I was still chuckling when I waved them over. "No time, let's go!" The ran toward me and we hid in the back room for a minute. Jace was literally trembling while Clary and I tried to comfort him. "Hey, it's okay." I rubbed his back and Clary was holding one of his hands.

I wasn't prepared for what looked like the haze that came and left the outside of Jace's body like he was glowing. The trembling stopped and he looked around for a second before registering us.

"Jace?" Clary asked warily.

"Yeah, you guys good?"

"Oh, thank the angel, it's you." I leaned my head back in exhaustion. "The you in this world is a wimp."

Jace rolled his eyes at me and then said, "Wanna fill me in?"

Clary just shrugged before the demon was back, throwing Jace into the wall. Clary and I each grabbed broomsticks, knocking it around pretty well before Jace followed our lead. Something that looked like a tentacle with a scorpion end on it snaked out of its neck and stung Jace. Clary screamed and bashed the thing over the head until it fell over.

Clary fell to her knees next to him. "Jace, oh my, God. No."

"Oh, crap," I whispered, leaning down next to them.

Magnus walked in, then, looking at the demon with wide eyes and coming to inspect Jace's wound.

"Where's my stele?" Jace grunted.

"It didn't come through with you," I replied, putting pressure on his neck.

"You're gonna need more than a stele for that," Magnus commented.

Clary was hyperventilating. "Will portaling him back to his own body cure him?"

Magnus shook his head in response. "Blood travels with you. That's why your angelic powers still work here. The demon venom is in his blood."

"We have to get him back to the Insitute in our dimension."

Jace tried to argue. "No, we've gotta find Valentine."

I gave Jace a look that said, 'are you stupid?' "Seriously? Jace, shut up."

"You're in no condition to fight." Clary agreed.

"We might not get another chance, this is too important." He insisted.

Magnus yelled from around the corner. "I found it!"

"Come on." Clary helped Jace up from the ground and we led him to where Magnus was. I took my portal shard and the one hanging from Clary's neck and put them together before giving them to Magnus so he could activate the portal.

"You'll have to destroy the portal after we go through," Jace told him.

"Why?"

"To secure your dimension from all sides," Jace explained, his voice breaking in pain. "Otherwise, if it stays open, you'll be vulnerable to demon attacks again."

Magnus nodded. "I'll take care of it, and that malodorous monstrosity on the table." Before we went through, Magnus grabbed Clary's arm. "Thank you."

"I should be thanking you." She replied, taken aback.

"No, you gave me back a life. I won't forget it." He gestured to the portal. "Now, go."

We stood there in front of it and Jace glanced at each of us. "Think of your father." Clary and I shared a look and she grabbed my hand. We all walked through together.

When we came out, we looked to be in some sort of industrial building. We were all back in own clothes and I realized that I had my daggers and stele in my pocket. Jace collapsed on the floor, groaning in pain and Clary immediately bent down to comfort him. Jace grunted as he pulled out his own stele to activate his iratze rune.

"Magnus was right, it's not working," Clary said, worried about him.

"It's enough." He replied, and she helped him try to stand up.

Jace pulled out his sword and without thinking, we spread out a bit with our blades poised and inspected the place. There were containers and beakers everywhere. The place looked like a mad scientists lab in a basement.

Clary looked at it, horrified. "What is all this?"

"The makings of an army," Jace replied.

"There's no one here," I stated and Clary turned to me.

"Did Meliorn lie to us? He said that that portal would take us to my father."

We heard a bang then, and more smaller bumps. It was coming from a locker from across the room, and Jace made Clary get behind him. We advanced toward it slowly, and for a second I doubted that I was really ready to meet my father.

Jace opened the locker and immediately lowered his blade when he saw just what, or who was in there. I couldn't believe my eyes, I'd only seem him in pictures.

"It can't be, it can't be," Jace whispered to himself. "You died, I saw it."

All I could was stare at the floor, but I knew Clary was confused. "Jace?"

"Jace?" The man whispered. "Is that really you?"

"Jace, how do you know this man?" Clary asked softly.

Jace hardly looked away from him to meet her eyes, taking shallow breaths. It was like his whole world had fallen apart.

"He's my father."

Disclaimer- I don't own any of the original words, characters, storylines or song lyrics in this story. They belong to Cassandra Clare, Katherine McNamara and the writers of Shadowhunters. I only own my own character and ideas.

Okay, that's the next chapter. If anyone is curious, that song is called Ember, it really is Kat's song, and it is SO good. I love it, so, you should listen to it. Anyways, favorite and leave me reviews with thoughts and ideas, please. I'd really appreciate it and until next time!

-Red


	11. Author's Note!

Author's Note

Attention: This is not a chapter.

I'm sorry for the complete lack of uploads in the previous weeks, guys. I absolutely have not given up on this story, I have just been extremely busy and haven't had the time to sit down and write. This story will not be canceled, and it will not be mediocre. I will not post a chapter if it is not the best that I could possibly make it. Don't fret, the wheels are still turning.  
I know that I didn't post very often when I was free, but now that I have a new job, it will simply be whenever I can find the time to work on it. I hope you all understand and stick with me even if I am a bit slow at uploading. In the meantime, I want your ideas. Finding inspiration would be much easier and would most definitely speed up the creative process if I had you all helping me and giving me your input. My twitter is KaeliMichelle18 so please, follow and direct message me or tweet me your ideas. I'm open to just about anything short of M-rated scenes. Thank you all for your understanding and be patient, I've got something very cool coming very soon…

-Red


End file.
